Kaguya's Garden
by orikohebi
Summary: The war has been over for more than a decade, but what promised to be an era of peace and prosperity collapsed before it could begin. A seed planted by Kaguya sprouted, and not even Konoha could escape the chaos, and was forced to rely on an old enemy. This is the story of a girl, born in Konoha, and her nindo: to protect her teammates, and everyone she holds dear. Warnings in A/N.
1. Chapter 1

Broken Branches

(*)

"Scar it, give it a twisted branch - perfect trees don't exist. Nothing is perfect."

\- Laurie Halse Anderson

(*)

Her father's pale hand weighed on her head. She looked up at him though her bangs, curious about what he had to say. Her tiny fingers reached up and twined into his. The pale and chocolaty skin-tones contrasted each other. "Papa?" She smiled. Her father let his hand slide from her short black hair. "Is everything all right?" His expression that morning spoke of many things. Reflected on the silver surface of the girl's vanity mirror was affection, of worry, and of hope. Compared to the usually blank slate of her father's expression, it was turmoil.

He nodded in affirmation. "Today we cut your hair for the last time." He touched her unblemished forehead gently, and then tapped her nose. He knew that his daughter would stay free, unless- but that would not happen. And if it did… he wasn't sure what he would do. He'd probably do anything, so that her skin would remain brown without any hints of green ink to taint it. Even betray his clan. He took the scissors from the table, and pulled a length of hair between his fingers. It was oil slick black, and curled slightly near the ends. The strands gleamed indigo-black as they fluttered through the air to the ground. Like feathers from the ends of clipped wings.

"Are you sure?" Neji knew she didn't really like all the expectations he set on her shoulders, they must be heavy as lead weights. She was only a little girl after all, but he wanted the best for her. He wanted for her to never need feel the pressure of the Main Family looming over. Never know the feeling of having her wings clipped and being dismissed, no matter how skilled she was. So until today, until she had proven herself and was safe, he had pushed her.

"I am. And it will not be an accident." He brushed the strands off of her shoulders with a damp towel. "Your opponent is Hisui. He is hotheaded, and prone to underestimating opponents. Play on his emotions, and when his rage overtakes his skill, efficiently remove him." She had been trained well, and as long as fairness was in play, she would triumph.

"Yes, father," replied the girl, the pearl in her eyes becoming steel. She shook her head, straying the last wayward strands, and followed her father out into the collective Hyuuga courtyard, which connected the two estates. The pale light of dawn stretched in tentative rays across the grassy grounds. A cobblestone path wound its way lazily into the horizon.

The girl followed close behind her father, watching as his long hair swayed with the breeze. A flower floated down from the trees above them. It was a white, red-rimmed cherry blossom. She watched it spin on the wind till it finally came to a stop. "This is from the Uchiha complex. We only have jacaranda on this side of the garden." Her father nodded at her remark, looking up to ascertain that indeed the flowers on the branches were purple.

"The wind blows powerfully this spring." It was true. The gusts pushed through the girl's bangs, and played with her skirt. "Perhaps a little girl in the Uchiha Complex is seeing our purple blossoms on the grounds as well." It was a flighty thing to say, but her father never said flighty or vague things. He was always precise, and when he could not be precise, he was silent.

"But Papa, there can't be a girl on Uchiha grounds," he whined. "There isn't anyone living there except Uchiha Sasuke!" Her father was rarely wrong, but there was only one Uchiha left alive, and he was the "Stained Right Hand" of the Hokage, right? _Right_? "Papaaaaaa!" She jumped, and grabbed his arm, hanging from it like a monkey as he effortlessly supported her weight.

"Isn't there?" Asked Neji, picking up the cherry blossom from the path and tucking it into a buttonhole on her cream colored robe. The girl touched the petals, meeting his conspiring glance with her own. She would investigate. She would find out for herself whether or not there was an Uchiha in the Leaf. Her father pretended not to see her scope the walls that led to the Uchiha compound, looking for a breach.

Neji straightened his robe out as the gathering Hyuuga family came into view, running his hands over the cloth and nodding as it obediently smoothed itself out. The girl mimicked her father, and fixed the flower slightly. She closed her eyes to breath in the scent of the garden. The moment of truth was upon them.

Neji and Hanabi bowed stiffly to each other. Each was reminded that with only a few minutes difference, this situation could be completely reversed. "My daughter, Haruhime." The girl stepped out from his shadow, her head tilted innocently. Her eyes were void of any of the anger or desperation most challengers had. She was her father's daughter, and she had learned that there was a time and place for her to express her emotions, and these times never involved the elders of the Main-Family.

Hanabi straightened from her shallow bow. "My Son. His name is Hisui." The introduction was useless, they already knew of each other. The two children bowed to each other. Hisui's bow was not true, it was hardly more than a nod. Haruhime brought her hands together in front of her and bowed at the waist. Her movements were slow and elegant. Neji smirked as her finesse dwarfed that of the Main-Families son. When she straightened, she smiled. It was genuine and warm as to the effect that Hisui blushed, and was forced to pause, dumbstruck.

When Hisui's blush had faded, his face bore a haughty smirk. He was three years older and over a head taller. His hair hung to his shoulders already. He didn't expect anything of her, certainly not a fight. One only had to look at her to see she was a Branch-Family weakling. Even if she was kind of cute the way her hands barely peeked from her sleeves... which was of course another disadvantage, as she would have restricted mobility.

She looked about a robust as a porcelain doll. Her skin was smooth and devoid of scars (he would soon change that), and her eyes large and doe like. Her limbs were thin, breakable, like an insect's, or a wading bird's. That was what the boy thought, anyway.

Haruhime, on the other hand was scanning his entire body for weaknesses. _Dominant hand: right. Favors left leg, possible injury to ankle. Compensation in right shoulder, right hand chakra-control is thirty percent compromised. Chakra from left hand with have more force, less accuracy. Overconfidence_. Her eyes closed… _Break him_… and opened. The gaze she directed at the boy sent a shiver down his spine, but his eyes were too busy mocking her short hair to notice whom the owner of said gaze was.

A ring was formed, and weapons were handed over. In this battle, only one's hands and chakra were to be utilized. The two children faced each other. "Begin!" ordered Hanabi. Hisui launched into action, activating his Byakugan and gentle fist simultaneously. Haruhime twitched out of the way, grabbing his wrist as it zoomed past her head, taking a hit from his other palm as sacrifice for the maneuver.

She realized too late that that had been the wrong idea. His palm was molten metal on her stomach. Her insides heaved, and she swallowed thickly, pressing the bile in her throat back down. Luckily her opponent was still a bit worse off.

Hisui's head spun as his velocity was completely swung into the other direction. There was an ominously squishy sound as his body hit the ground. There was a pause, but Hisui snapped back up, only slightly less limber than moments before.

"Is that all you've got?" he taunted, his smirk back. Both were cursing silently. Hisui's hand wasn't channeling. She must have activated his chakra-points mid throw. Haruhime was fighting the urge to just lie down and wait for the nausea to fade. But her freedom was on the line here.

She wasn't quite sure what that meant, nor what was so important about the Caged-Bird Seal, but her father had made her promise to fight to incapacitation. Haruhime meant to. She straightened before Hisui; her fists already up in a defensive pose.

"Try saying that when you didn't just get up from being flat on your ass!" A round of gasps wend around the ring of stuffy Hyuuga. Many of them threw Neji scandalous looks. What kind of child was this man raising. The man simply shrugged, jerking his thumb at his wife.

Said wife hollered "Oh no she didn't!" The entire Hyuuga clan sighed collectively. The treaty is worth it. The treaty is worth it. _The treaty is worth it._

The effect of Haruhime's words was instant. Hisui face reddened and his fists clenched with anger. Rage even. Whispers went around the clan as some of the more perceptive realized what was going on. "And I haven't seen you land a hit yet! Are you going to attack, or do I have to come get you."

The older Hyuuga boy ground his teeth, his rage building steadily as the tiny girl hurled insults at him. Had she no respect? No honor? He was part of the Main Hyuuga Clan! How could he have even begun to see her as cute? With a shout, he charged at her, his hands primed for gentle fist.

Haruhime knew that at the speed he was going, he would not be able to stop. She waited till he was inches away, and dodged. She stabbed three chakra-points on his back and watched dispassionately as he fell to the floor wobbling like gelatin. "You tried," she smiled, lifting him onto his feet and reactivating his body. He staggered, clutching her kimono. His head was bowed shamefully, but he knew when to accept defeat.

"Don't be so smug," he whispered. "We will have a rematch." She smirked, nodding. It had been a challenge to win against him, as compared to the others in their clan. She hoped he would get stronger, and eventually prove a worthy rival. Right now he was good. But he had underestimated her. When he didn't anymore they'd have a real fight

"Try to win." She spun, and skipped back to her father, the cream robe swishing. Then began the ritual to officially add her to the Main Family. It wasn't necessary, but Hyuuga, if nothing else were very traditional. She perfectly executed all the dances and ceremonies, the moves trained till they were ingrained directly into her muscles. Not a thought was required, so her eyes glazed over. All this served to do was give her expression and dance an elegantly dreamy quality. Slowly, the entire family dispersed.

Neji and Haruhime walked back towards the Branch House, with the purpose of visiting the other members who would be glad to hear of this news. A lavender clad blur launched itself into Haruhime's arms. It was a small female by the name of Hana. She had eyes that glimmered like moonstone, and an extremely delicate body, even for a Hyuuga. Her cropped hair was similar to Haruhime's, except for that the shine was a deep navy, instead of indigo or purple, and her bangs were a bit jagged, rather than perfectly straight.

"Haru! How did it go?" Haruhime found her hands being clasped in smaller and paler ones. She didn't usually approve of people abbreviating her name, but when it came to Hana... Huge honest eyes stared into hers, and she felt as her surprise melted into warmth and affection. She could deny this girl nothing.

"All is well," she replied. Hana nodded. Haruhime ruffled her cousin's hair, and let herself be pulled to the smaller girls room. Once there, they sat on the floor and told stories, using small china dolls as props. Hana lay with her head in Haruhime's lap, using her own tummy as a stage for the dolls. The lavender-eyed girl watched as the smaller girl nodded off in her lap. She let her back lean against the wall, and played with Hana's soft black hair.

She wondered if Hana would ever gain the right to let her hair grow long. Haruhime closed her eyes and imagined it. A silken curtain of shining black, framing lily-white skin, blossom pink lips and shining moonstone eyes.

After about an hour, the smaller girl opened her eyes, yawning softly. She looked up to see Haruhime staring off into space. Her pearly eyes glazed. She smiled, reaching out to touch a chocolaty cheek with her fingertips. But then, she seemed to realize something, and her face transformed from a lazy smile to a sad frown. "You're officially Main-Family now," Hana sighed. Haruhime tilted her head at the tone of her friend's voice. Why did Hana seem like she was holding back tears?

"So?" Her eyebrows creased, drawing towards the center of her forehead. She didn't understand. She didn't know who or what was upsetting Hana, or what she could do about it. But she did know, that above all things Hana should not be upset. "Hana, won't you tell me why this causes you pain?"

"You might not want… to see me. Since, you know..." She bit her lips in a nervous gesture, her eyes searching Haruhime's expression. Haruhime shook her head rapidly, denying that any such statement may ever be proven true. Hana was always welcome by her side. She pulled the smaller Hyuuga up and into her lap, holding her close. Hana buried her fists into a cream-colored robe. "You promise?" watery eyes demanded an answer.

Despite the fact that Haruhime hated to see Hana cry, the beauty of when she did was astounding. Hee eyes shone like moonstones already, but when wet by tears they became filled with iridescent brilliance. Rainbow colors played across her irises.

"Yeah. I promise." Hana nodded, believing her without a doubt. Haruhime had never broken any kind of promise she herself had made. Her word was her bond. They weren't papery or flimsy bonds either. Instead they were unbreakable, a chain without weak links. She would die before going back on her word.

Hana yawned, closing her eyes again. She didn't have to go to practice with father for another few hours, so Haruhime hummed a soft lullaby. The smaller girl nodded off, her fingers still twisted into the cream colored robe. Haruhime sighed, disentangling the sleeping girl from her clothes.

If there was a time to investigate the Uchiha, it was now. Despite the fact that cuddling with Hana would always be amongst her favorite activities, her curiosity was burning in her chest at an almost painful level. She slipped out of the window, simply because it was shorter than going down through the Branch Complex and across the courtyard. She landed in the yard, three stories lower. Her landing was solid and she grinned triumphantly, only to take one step forward and trip over a ladybug and fall flat on her face.

Haruhime pushed herself up from the grass, her face blushed beet red. She looked left and right, and once assured that no one had seen her, and would therefore die a terrible death, she ran across the yard and scaled the wall.

She reached the top of the structure, but yanked her hand back when something decided to stab holes in her skin. Barbed wire, she had been silly to expect no protection on the perimeter. Using the thick sleeves to protect herself, she grabbed the barbed wire and swing-flipped herself over the wall.

The Uchiha complex loomed over her. She scanned the grounds. The houses didn't look as abandoned as they should. It was generally tidy and well kept. It did however possess an intense lonesomeness, as abandoned homes are wont to do. A thin layer of dusty film seemed to lay over everything. She looked over to the garden where the cherry blossom trees bloomed. Haruhime's pale eyes honed onto a shape in the trees. It was white and pink, like the blossoms, but something seemed just slightly off.

"Byakugan," she whispered, wincing as the chakra veins around her eyes protested the sudden rush of chakra. After fighting her cousin, she was closer to her limits than she liked to be. But anyhow, there was definitely someone up there. A girl. She couldn't tell the age of the person from this distance, but she felt safe enough.

She jogged the winding way, trying not to make overmuch noise as she crunched over the gravel path. The cherry blossom trees were old, and had therefore grown tall as each year let the trees reach a little higher into the clouds. Peering up into the branches, Haruhime saw a girl about the same age as she was sitting on the lowest branch, only a few feet up.

They may have been the same age, but Haruhime was sure that the girl was at least twice as beautiful. She had pale skin like china, and pink cheeks and lips. Her eyes were almond-shaped and bore a piercing gray color that mimicked ash strewn over silver. Thick and gleaming indigo curls tumbled down to her shoulders. "You're almost as pretty as Hana," whispered the Hyuuga to herself in awe. But then she became serious again when she realized the girl was crying. She climbed up into the tree and the other girl stopped sobbing to stare at her in confusion.

Haruhime felt she could become teary too if the other girl kept crying. She didn't like to see pretty girls cry, and wanted to solve the problem as fast as possible. "What's wrong?" She asked the question softly, carefully. The branch creaked under their weight, but held.

The girl looked up at her, rubbing tear stained cheeks with her fists. "My village is gone," she murmured softly. She sniffed, rubbing her nose and eyes on her sleeve. It was wide and black, and the Uchiha sigil was stitched on the side. Her clothes hadn't made it to Konoha either, Haruhime realized. She wondered what had happened.

Haruhime gasped softly. She put her hand on the other girl's gently. "I'm sorry." Haruhime kept seeing the refugees flood into Konoha and knew that towns were being destroyed. But, she didn't know why. She didn't know why the other people in the town were complaining of hunger either. There was plenty of food in either Hyuuga household. It didn't make sense.

The girl shook her head. "I'll be fine, they take really good care of me here, at least I'm not starving anymore." Again with the mentions of hunger. Hunger Haruhime had never experienced herself. There must be a reason for it, obviously. But no one had told her.

But more importantly than that mystery, why had they left this girl here by herself. The complex looked deserted. "You're here all alone," she countered. Leaving her alone, to her own devices, whether there was food or not. That was just too lonely! Haruhime wouldn't stand for it, if there was anything she could do.

The girl shook her head. "_Sasuke-san_ has to work right now." She rubbed her nose with her sleeve again. Thankfully it seemed her tears had run out for the most part. "It's not his fault," she sniffed. She looked away and at the complex, letting her hair fall in front of her face. Haru felt a pain in her chest at watching the other girl wallow in her sorrow.

"I'm Hyuuga Haruhime," she finally introduced herself, taking the girls hand to make she sure had the other's attention. The girl's head whipped around, her silvery eyes fixed on Haruhime. Her hand, instead of pulling away, tightened around Haruhime's. "What's your name?"

She bit her her lip before replying. "... Zokishisen Akira," she finally sighed.

(*)

Training with father wasn't so much training as celebrating. Instead of sparring and running themselves to exhaustion, they went out for ice-cream filled mochi.

When she met with Hisui at the academy, he spoke to her pleasantly, inquiring about her day, and after receiving "no trouble," as an answer, finished with another challenge to fight. Surprised at his politeness, and secretly itching to be his opponent again, she agreed.

As Hyuuga are wont to do, they walked the way to the Hyuuga complex's training ground in complete silence. Haruhime smiled faintly. She wouldn't mind Hisui as permanent company if his attitude remained as such. He had been unkind to her, but Haruhime was quite the opposite of quick to hold grudges, such was her personality. Besides he was very tall, and could probably reach high up things easily. She wouldn't mind using him for that.

Other Hyuuga appeared as they neared the complex, with the same destination in mind. They were of the main family, and they stalked up to Haruhime. She looked up at them, at least a head shorter. There were three of them. They were Hisui's brothers in the sense that they grew up in the same section of the complex as main branch children. In truth they were more like cousins. Children of Hanabi's younger sister, and his aunt, Hotaru. Except their leader. That was actually Hisui's older brother, Hakuto.

"Welcome to the Main-Family," were the words, but the message sent was "leave." They didn't seem happy to see her at all. She was equally unhappy to be in their presence. But they were stuck together now, so she bowed, trying to be civil, as she always had till then.

They didn't seem to share the sentiment. They didn't bow back, or even nod. Instead they moved into her space, breathing her air. She cringed inwardly at the infraction of her well-maintained bubble. "How many more of your branch family is going to be moving in? I want to know so we can put plastic over the good furniture."

Haruhime's politeness didn't stand a snowballs chance in hell. Haruhime looked at them dispassionately, her expression blank. "I don't think any other branch members can make it in, unless that is... The quality of the Main-Family has been reduced to the point where anyone could defeat them?" Her lips slowly curved into a sickly sweet grin. "Well?"

The eldest of the three, who was called Hakuto, became red at the implication that he was of lesser power than some lowly branch member. "Why you! -" His sentence never got the chance to stutter to its end.

Haruhime's smiled fell like a leaf would fall from a tree when it could no longer serve its purpose. "Unless you have something important to say, which I highly doubt is the case, Hisui and I will be on our way, I have a challenge to attend to." As she cut him off, her expression expressed nothing but mild annoyance.

"You can't speak to me this way! I'm-"

"At the same level as me now. And, if his is going to be the way you conduct yourself in representation of our clan..." she yanked him to eye level by his collar. "Do the rest of us a favor and kill yourself." She released him, and walked on, followed closely by a nervous Hisui.

Hisui stopped when he stood beside her, his brow furrowed slightly. "That was risky," he commented, but they both knew what he really meant. _"They're pissed now. They'll want revenge."_

"I can handle them," replied Haruhime, her lips set in a thin line. Hisui could only see how her hands trembled with rage because of how close he was to her.

He wanted to tell get her to stop being so damn reckless. "All at once?" she had seen her fight, felt her punches. She was strong, but against three of them? He wasn't sure how much, I anything, she had been holding back.

When she didn't answer, he grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted her around, staring meaningfully into her pearly eyes. "I guess... I guess we will soon discover the answer to that question." She shrugged him off.

Hisui frowned. This girl was going to get herself in some serious shit. "I can not say that I understand your emo-"

"No! You can't!" She glared at him "And why are so friendly all of a sudden anyway, this morning you hated me. Like them." Hisui took an instinctive step back, feeling slightly endangered.

He didn't stutter with his reply, but his voice was far from steady "It's 'cause I realized I wanted you to prove that the branch family is as good as the main family," he murmured, wincing even as he said it.

"Why?"

Hisui shrugged, trying to feign confidence. Though he severely lacked just that. "Because there's a girl... I can't say if I like her yet but..." he paused again, fidgeting awkwardly.

Her gaze softened. "I believe you. Thanks." Her fists slackened.

There was a silence, which would necessitate a chainsaw to cut. Hisui and Haruhime both rocked oddly on the balls of their feet.

"So" began Hisui, rubbing his arm

"..." Replied Haruhime, mainlining her habitual silence as a response to being unsure, a trait borrowed from her father.

"We still get to fight, right?" Hisui's question cracked the silence, and Haruhime smirked. She began to walk again, this time with her posture relaxed. Hisui fought his grin in vain, his lips twitched upwards.

(*)

Hana curved her lips unhappily. Her hands clenched tightly around her pink haired doll. She had stitched herself, fancifully modeling it after Haru. There was an apple-green haired Hana among Haru's belongings to match. The Hyuuga girl closed her eyes, sighing sadly.

Her room, now missing half of its belongings, was frightfully large and cold with only her small presence to warm it. She knew Haru would come almost everyday to see her... but- "Even so," she whispered. "I hate it." Was it wrong of her to have wished for Haru to remain part of the Branch family? Of course it was. And it pained Hana to even think it. She felt a tear slide down her cheek and fall onto the dark skinned doll. She rubbed at it frantically so that the dolls painted smirk wouldn't smudge. "You're always crying Hana," she whispered to herself, rubbing her eyes.

A heavy knock at the door made the girl jump, her hands tightening around the doll. "W-who is i-it?" She watched the door with wide frightened eyes. The door opened slowly, and Hana relaxed. It was only Haru's papa. She was still worried though. She rarely spoke to Neji-san unless something was wrong with Haru. "Neji-san?" She bowed slightly, as tradition dictated she must. "What happened?"

Neji shook his head, sitting on the now bare mattress where purple sheets used to be. "The problem is not with Haruhime. It is with you, Hana." Hana's eyebrows knit together.

She shook her head, and hid behind her doll. She wanted to run... but then Haru's father would get in trouble with the Hyuuga elders. And she'd never see Haru again. That was the worst. "But they said it was still years before-"

"The Elders of the clan have decided." Neji's voice and posture we're heavy, pulling him down into remorse and humility he rarely showed. "Based on your pattern so far, they don't think you will ever manifest." Hana wanted to please the elders, but she just couldn't use chakra like Haru. She couldn't use chakra at all. No matter how hard she tried or how long she meditated "They think they failed. I am sorry."

Hana's arms tightened around the smirking doll.

"Follow me," sighed Neji, extending his hand to be held in a rare show of affection. His eyes were mournful, but the rest of his expression remained smooth. "It will be over before you even realize," he promised.

They both knew it was a lie. It was easier not to say anything.

(*)

Hisui sucked on his split knuckle. He grimaced at the metallic taste of his own blood, and winced when pain spiked up his calf. Haruhime didn't miss it, but didn't say anything as she herself was clutching her chest and trying to still the shaking in her knees. Her heart stuttered, trying to compensate for her confused chakra points.

"Draw?" She gasped, falling to floor, relieved. Hisui nodded, sitting down beside her. He tilted his head back, staring at the sky. Puffy white clouds drifted past, way out of their reach. Hisui lifted his hand anyway, closing his fist to catch only light.

Haruhime didn't want to go to the hospital. Hisui didn't seem to either, if the grim line of his lips was anything to go by. Thankfully Hana knew a few healing techniques that didn't need chakra to work. Almost all civilians knew the most basic healing by now. Especially with the all the treaties so very tenuous, and bandits so very common.

Haruhime stood, pulling Hisui up with her. She jerked her head to the side in a gesture bidding him to follow her. The Branch house was the destination that he saw himself being pulled towards. He usually wouldn't deign to set foot there, but he decided to make an exception. Especially because the closer they got to the house, the springier Haruhime's steps became.

"Hana-chan!" Called Haruhime, waving frantically. Hisui didn't know how that tiny pale yellow dot in the garden could ever be identified as a person, much less a specific one. But he was proved wrong as they went closer. That yellow spot became a girl with soil covered hands and knees. She was wearing pastel colored shorts and a blossom yellow t-shirt. A matching headband held her hair from her face, covering her forehead.

Hana smiled radiantly as she was pulled into a hug. "Haru?" The pale Hyuuga's eyes flitted over Hisui and Haruhime's battered forms, confusion and concern causing her to worry her lip with pearly white teeth. "Is everything okay?" Her eyes focused on bruises and cuts.

"Hmm?" Haruhime asked absently, her thoughts already having drifted off to other things. Her eyes suddenly refocused on Hana's perturbed expression. "Oh of course!" She exclaimed, smoothing Hana's worry out by stroking her soft black hair. She glared at Hisui over Hana's shoulder with an expression that screamed 'Back me up!'

Hisui nodded in frantic agreement, though Hana couldn't even see him. "We were just practicing. But if you could fix us up a bit... please?" He winced again as his ankle protested the walk through the garden.

Hana spun to face, him, smiling sweetly. "Let me just retrieve my kit, okay?" She clasped his hands within her own far smaller ones, staring into his eyes, before running off towards the house. Her hair fanned a sweet waft of some kind of flower scent past his face. For the second time that day, Hisui found himself blushing. Were all branch family members so... He didn't even know what to call it, but it irked him that they both had the ability to make his cheeks redden without his volition.

Hana sang as she wandered down the path to the large house. The birds mimicked her tunes and she paused politely, allowing them a space of silence to fill with their songs. When she sang, her voice was high and breathy. Her voice would hit high note, then tremble of into a whisper, as if she had run out of air to press through her lungs. Then it would rise again, soft and fluting.

A gust blew by and toppled one of Hana's carefully balanced flowerpots. Haruhime knelt and righted all the tiny containers, taking care not to upset all of the most delicate blooms they contained. "Has Hana accomplished all this herself?" Hisui's question was asked softly, almost in wonder. It was a huge expanse of soft flower beds and scattered tiny vegetable gardens.

Haruhime nodded. "She isn't going to be a ninja, so as you may imagine, she has a lot of free time. She is very good at cooking, gardening, creating clothing, and all such feminine things that I am completely unable to do. Honestly, I can barely boil water..." She drifted off, thinking happily of her cousin, and then she realized that the birds had stopped their tunes. It was silent. Far too silent. Her skin prickled with goose bumps and her stomach seemed to drop down from out of her.

Hisui sensed it too, and his eyes narrowed as he tried to hear. "Something is wrong," both whispered in unison. Haruhime took of first, half running, and half sliding-tumbling-razing down the hill towards the complex. Hisui dashed after her, but couldn't keep up.

The door banged open, Haruhime vanished instantly through. She was already far inside the building, but as Hisui passed through the doorway, he heard a soft despairing "Hana," and his stomach dropped through his chest and his heart jumped into his throat all at once. All from the imploring and desperate tone of Haruhime's voice. He didn't need to see what was going on to know that they needed help. He dashed out of the mostly empty house towards to courtyard where the Hyuuga's spent their afternoons. "NEJI-SAMA!"

(*)

Haruhime froze, her feet glued to the spot. What else was she to do? One step towards them, and they would dig their kunai into Hana's soft throat. She closed her eyes, digging her nails into the palms of her hands instead. "Please," she whispered. "Please let Hana go."

Haruhime's eyes opened and moved frantically around the entire room, she froze. Hana's headband was on the floor. Thin green markings almost made Haruhime's heart stop and tear itself to shreds in her chest.

"No, I don't think I will,"Hakuto sneered, digging his hands into Hana's hair. The pale girl whimpered softly, her wide eyes beginning to fill with brilliant tears. "I am simply through with taking insult from you insufferable, disgusting, useless, Branch-Family members!" Hakuto's eyes were wild; they were filled with anger and hate, which Haruhime couldn't see the origin of. But she could tell it was neither her nor Hana that had truly inspired this rage. It didn't matter. "Do you know what I learned from father the other day?"

The older Hyuuga boy's hands began to glow. Bluish light, spiking out into all directions like knives. He looked at his hands, as if surprised and pleased by the power within them. A twisted smile marred his face as he jerked roughly on short, raven hair. "All it takes-" he laughed, and it bordered on hysteria, rising into a giggle. "To end you little branchies for good-" He raised his glowing hand as if to deliver a blow, "Is a smack to the forehead." Haruhime _moved_.

Blue rushed forwards and collided with her forehead, and she winced as she felt Hana's forehead strike the back of her head. The blue died out, and there was a moment of tense silence, with Haruhime swaying unsteadily on her feet. Pain spiked through her skull and down her neck, like hot metal poured from her brain into her spine. The girl screamed, collapsing to her knees with her hands scratching the sides of her head as if she could make a hole to relieve pressure.

She heard her father's voice, but she couldn't understand the words anymore. All she could see was a wavering, whitish blue expanse. It became darker and darker, until finally, it went permanently black. She felt the floor hit her face, shooting even more pain through her cheekbone. She bit back a sob.

(*)

Haruhime bolted up in the hospital bed, hands tugging at the bandages that covered her eyes. When she failed to dislodge them, her panic calmed. Panic never helped. She sniffed the air. Antiseptic. She was in a hospital. She sank back into the fluffy pillows, mind rather blank. _What now?_

She heard the clicking of clipboards, and scribbling of pens if she strained her ears. She heard aunt Hanabi asking the doctors questions about her. Inquiring about her integrity as a Hyuuga. She was really asking whether Haruhime would still be able to use her Byakugan. "There's no way that much raw chakra could not leave any damage. We believe her Byakugan will be forfeit for the next few months." She swore silently.

"We expect a full physical recovery, though we do expect mid-range to severe psychological trauma. The other girl is not so lucky. Her central nervous-system has been heavily damaged, and we are afraid severe psychological trauma will surely be discovered when she awakes." The door to her room opened, and Haruhime pretended to be sleeping. "We expect her to regain only a minimal degree of sight and speech. But, her other senses have not been damaged."

Haruhime felt helpless. She would be fine, but... 'Hana. No.' Something had happened, but she could only recall white light that made her head hurt. She waited until the voices left and the door closed before whispering "Hana?"

"She's not here." She knew that voice? Her brain was foggy. She hoped her memory would recover along with her Byakugan. "It's me. Hisui." Oh. Hisui. The specifics were fuzzy. But definitely a friend. A rival. He would help protect Hana. Surely.

"Oh. Hello, Hisui." She pretended she hadn't lost any memories. It was best to hide weaknesses as well as one could. Even with friends. You never knew when a friend would stop being one.

Hisui spoke into the silence. "I saw Hana. She's okay." Haruhime drew a sigh of relief. But whoever had hurt them both could come back. She didn't want Hana to be anywhere in harms way.

She shook her head, scratching at the edges of the bandages around her eyes. "But she's not safe yet." Hisui's tense silence answered her question. She frowned. "Then we will have to make her safe. Come again after dark?" By then she hoped to remember everything.

"Of course." Hisui's hand touched hers, and she found she trusted him enough not to strike home on instinct. Besides, she needed something from him. If she couldn't remember soon, the best person to refresh her memory, barring her father, would be him.

She listened to him leave, and then surrendered to a blank sleep, void of dreams.

When she awoke it was night, though she could not tell, and there was a doll in her arms. tracing the features, she recognized Hana's lookalike. Her father had been here. She fingered the apple green yarn hair, and wished to rewind the past day and do them over. She wasn't sure what had happened, but surely there could have been a better outcome than this.

Hisui's footsteps as they heralded his return were soft enough she only heard them as he stood right by her. "We need to move Hana," she stated, wasting no time with pleasantries. She touched Hisui's cheeks to check what his response was. He had nodded.

"Where?" He asked as an afterthought. It was an important detail though. Escape, and/or kidnapping would be the simplest part. But going nuke as not even a gennin was suicide.

Haruhime frowned. She knew she usually thought of these things beforehand, but he brain was so muddled it barely functioned. She shrugged. "Away."

"She can't live in the wilds," Hisui countered. She wasn't in her right mind.

"We can buy a house," Haruhime realized. No one liked to live on the outskirts of villages anymore, it had become dangerous since the numbers of bandits had increased tenfold. She had heard this while walking among the civilians, which she was not often allowed to do. Her training schedule with father didn't permit her to roam about during the day, and the curfew kept her in at night. But she had heard people complaining about the danger and talking seriously about moving.

That said, It probably wouldn't cost too much, relatively to find one of the houses the villagers had abandoned out of fear of roving gangs of nuke-nin, bandits, and their garden's growing the faces screaming people. Haruhime could kill bandits without repercussion, and chop down trees with nary a thought. The trees wouldn't even bother Hana. She was blind. Haruhime would far rather be attacked by bandits than her own clan. "I need you to go find a nice one. Ask Hana what she would want. But don't tell her yet," Haruhime ordered softly, not wanting to alert a nurse.

Hisui's argument began halfway through her sentence but she kept on right over him. Houses weren't free. She had to know that houses cost money. Keeping them habitable would cost more. And Neji-sama would be forbidden to pay for it. "How could you possibly afford-" Even as he asked he resolved to give her any money he could give away without it hurting.

She sighed, seeming to consider, and waver. But soon new resolve dawned over her. "I'll talk to the Hokage," she announced softly, but in a voice that left no room for argument. Hisui didn't try to interrupt her anymore. He was quickly learning how stubborn she could be. "Once I get out of this damned hospital."

Hisui's nod felt reassuring against her fingertips. He shifted. She thought he might be frowning and was ready to defend her decision again when he said something completely different than what she had expected.

She felt him sigh. "Hana will want to see you." He took her hand from his cheek and squeezed it gently. "Don't forget to-"

She cut him off. "I won't." Haruhime was vehement. And Hisui believed her.

(*)

"It's not fair! Why should I have to visit that ex-branchie?" The young Hyuuga frowned, crossing his arms stubbornly. He didn't want to visit her. He didn't even want to remember she existed.

His mother gave him a withering look. "Because she's main family now. Show the proper respect." She turned her nose up at him in irritation and disappointment. "Hisui is not so childish. He spends ten minutes at least each day without a word of complaint." Again with the praise of his brother. The kid couldn't even win against a branch member. He didn't get why his parents planned to name him the heir instead of Hakuto. "You should try to emulate your younger brother, Hakuto."

"Ugh. She even chose a branchie's side over ours!" Haruhime stiffened. That was the voice. The voice of the one who had hurt Hana. The memories tumbled painfully through her mind, trying awkwardly to slot themselves into jagged wounds where the memories had once been torn away. The black in front of her eyes began to bleed red.

She wanted to hurt him. She really did. For no more reason than to watch him bleed. "Hyuuga loyalty should extend to the entire clan. It was three against one." She felt her way over her hospital cot, finding the rails and beyond it openness on one side and the wall on the other.

She swung herself over the railing into the openness. She landed on her feet, but wasn't ready for the pain of a needle ripping out of her wrist. That's what she assumed it was, anyway. "Whatever. I still think-"

Brown hands grabbed a tan collar. Despite bandages on her eyes and him trying to back-step away from her, she managed to catch hold of him in a wide grasp, clenching fingers around the first thing her fingers touched. "You," she hissed darkly.

Hakuto cried out in surprise, continuing to step backwards, but only managing to drag the smaller girl with him. "Mother!"

She drew her hand back, and it began to glow with chakra. "You will pay for what you did. If you won't end your own life, I suppose the responsibility falls to me."

Hisui dashed in from the hallway with four drinks balanced precariously in his arms. He had been at the vending machine for all of them only moments before. He let them fall to grab her hand, and two of the cans exploded is cool fizz around their feet. "Sister, stop."

She struggled against, Hisui, trying to hit him with her chakra-free hand. She didn't want to hurt Hisui. Only get him off her, dammit! He grabbed her other wrist and pressed her down to her knees. Haruhime struggled for all she was worth, but she couldn't see, and couldn't get out of the hold she was trapped in. She bit his arm and heard him hiss in pain. "Hisui, release me!"

His voice was strained. "I won't," he argued.

Haruhime suddenly started to cry, falling slack against Hisui's grip. "You're with them!" Hisui jumped. How could she think that he would do such a thing? He'd given her his reasons, didn't they seem honest enough. "You lied! Hisui! Why?" She must be losing her mind. He could understand if she was. Blinded. Lost. She must be, otherwise it hurt too much to think she might believe that of him. Not when he-

He felt a wave of chakra. "She's manifested the Byakugan!" He didn't know whose voice that was. It seemed to him that suddenly too many people were in the room. Nurses with crash carts and bandages at the ready. But he could see the marks on her cheeks where the veins extended down and knew it was true.

His mother was kneeling by him, touching Haruhime's face. "What?" He expression was concerned as she tried to negate the eye-jutsu it but could not. Something was wrong with Haruhime's chakra paths."How?" Hisui shook his head. And then realized late that no one would expect him to know. Still. He felt lame for not being able to answer.

A light haired doctor lifted up the chart and scanned over it quickly. "I don't know. Based on the charts she shouldn't even be able to see, much less-" Haruhime stared straight in the doctor's face. Or would have, if her eyes were uncovered. She could see though. The way she moved and seemed to stare meant she could see their chakra.

"Her chakra core is not supposed to be working at this intensity," Hisui's mother murmured, her Byakugan activated as well. Usually Hanabi's voice was calm and soothing, but now it worried. One of her Main-Family members was in danger.

A nurse took hold of Haruhime's arm for the first time. She stopped whispering softly to Hisui and began struggling anew. She screamed, pulling away from the nurse as if her hands were fire. "Sedate her. Ten cc's, drip it." A bag of liquid was hung from the pole thing, but there was no way to hook it up to Haruhime without her sitting still.

The nurse stared Hisui in the eye. It forced him to take his eyes away from the girl struggling to breath and crying against his shoulder. "Can you hold her still?"

"Yes ma'am," Hisui replied softly, he hugged Haruhime closer to him, keeping her from squirming. He pet her hair. Her murmurings her growing less and less coherent. She was babbling softly on nonexistent syllables, but it sounded like she was pleading.

For a moment she managed words as the needle approached her. She shied away, but Hisui was expecting it this time and held her still. "Hisui help, I can't see." She begged him softly in a voice that was too frightened for words. "Don't let them-" She jerked when the nurse taped the needle to her arm and drew back.

"It's okay." Hisui petted her hair. "It's okay." He promised. The veins from under the bandages receded, and he realized how wet the strips of cloth were with her tears. "It's okay."

(*)

Haruhime felt wrong when she woke up. She wanted Hisui to be there, but when she called his name, all she got in response was the soft chirping of crickets in the otherwise silent atmosphere. It must be night, with how cool and quiet it was. She touched her face to check for the bandages, fearing she'd truly lost her sight. There were round glass circles set in cool metal instead. Goggles. To block chakra flow of children with high reserves and low control. That wasn't her. But if they had put the goggles on her that must have been the case at some point while they were treating her. She tried to pull them off, but only succeeded in snapping the elastic, and making the darkness of her vision tinge red. She bit her lip to keep from making a noise, waited for the pain to abate, and then slowly tried to force her eyes open.

She could see, but everything was dimmer than usual, blurry, and glossed over with pale green. Besides the difference in her actual vision, she was used to having her Byakugan minimally activated at all times. Now it was completely gone. She tried to pull the goggles off again but couldn't. they were locked into place. She swore quietly, hoping this wouldn't be a permanent addition.

She opened the door carefully, looked down the hall, then re-closed the door to her hospital room. Taking a deep breath, she took a running start and launched herself out of the window. She didn't need a Byakugan to get to the Hokage tower.

(*)

The Hokage and the head of Black-Ops both raised their eyebrows at the small girl standing in front of the former's desk and making demands. "A house?" The Hokage was confused. What would a child want with a house. Her parents were supposed to be in charge of her. She shouldn't be in the Hokage's office requesting to officially purchase property.

She had an extreme sense of urgency though. And those goggles reminded him so badly of himself that he found himself wary to just toss her out and dismiss her as a silly little girl the way his wife would have urged him to. Though, he himself had definitely been a silly little boy. "I need one now, there isn't time."

Even so the Hokage sighed. He wanted to help her, really. But he'd never hear the end of it if he gave this girl valuable land in exchange for future revenue. "You understand that money nowadays is hard to come by?" Not to mention that the clans refused to cede even empty land on the premise of historical value, yet still expected to have a say in the distribution of the remaining parcels. Really all land should be used for farming to feed the land of fire. Especially that close to the village, where seeds still grew into plants and not monsters.

Haruhime shook her head, denying that the resources should just be given to her. "It's a loan. I'll pay it back with interest." She glared at him as though insulted by even the implication that she might accept handouts from the Hokage. "They used the Caged Bird Seal on Hana," she explained, in reply to the Hokage's questioning expression. "I want her away from here."

The Hokage sighed, pushing back blonde hair in a tired gesture. "It's not that simple-" He blinked. He must have have heard wrong. There was no way they had used that seal on a little girl. "What do you mean they used the-" He sighed even more heavily. That complicated things even further. "Oh."

She pulled at her hair in frustration. "You're the Hokage, make it that simple!" The Hokage could tell she rightly should be in a hospital. She was nearing a mental break, if she hadn't reached it already. It reminded him too closely of the frustration he had seen in one of his teammates.

He couldn't allow that piece of history to repeat itself. "I'll see what I can do," he promised solemnly. The girl nodded, and ran out the door. Sasuke, with the snap of the finger, sent an Black-Ops agent to follow her to make sure she arrived wherever she meant to go safely.

A hand touched a white clad shoulder, and he turned to face it. "Give her the house, and money for the upkeep besides," the owner of the hand suggested. Sasuke sat on the desk as if he owned it, looking down at Naruto superiorly.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the audacity, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing he'd ticked him off. "I don't want a girl that young to get into debt with the council," he argued in reply.

Sasuke shook his head. "She's a prodigy. You need her loyalty." It sounded so simple when he said it. But Naruto knew it was far from that, and would only get more complicated as time went by.

"I know. But it doesn't sit right," he gnawed his lip. Before he could bite the bullet and just go with Sasuke's advice, he had to make sure Sasuke's personal life wasn't affecting his judgement. "I know Hana-"

Then sharply, "Naruto." Sasuke predictably cut him off before things could register on an emotional level. Some things never changed.

He changed the subject. "How's Akira," he asked, clasping his hands and laying his chin over his knuckles.

Sasuke twisted his neck to observe the Hokage's expression critically. "...Fine," he murmured eventually.

Naruto nodded. He stood up He "Be nice to her. You of all people should understand-"

Sasuke pulled a hand through choppy black hair. "I do," in a way that sounded so much like he didn't care, that it conveyed how completely he did. Sasuke stood, and made for the window. Like all Black-Ops, he seemed to have an inborn hatred of doors.

Naruto called after him. "Call in the Hyuuga elders," he requested. He got an affirmative grunt in reply. Sasuke worked quickly, and within a few moments he had three beige clan Hyuuga elders sitting in his meeting room, looking as stuffy and affronted as usual. Naruto nodded. "Now if only I could get the guy to use the damn door."

Naruto put on his serious face. "Give her what she wants, or it's likely she'll go rogue. We can't afford to give future shinobi like her away at a time like this. Our military force is all that is keeping us all fed." He tried to keep his concern out of his voice. If he showed any weakness, they'd strong-arm him to their favor. He knew that couldn't in any way go well. In the short-term it might seem to be a solution, but eventually they would only lose Haruhime. He'd seen this before.

They still tried to argue with him. Of course. "But-" He cut them off quickly. There was no point in letting them talk.

He glared. He had to channel his anger for this one. Luckily he had plenty of indignation from the use of the damned seal "I'm overlooking an unnecessary activation of a Caged-Bird Seal," he corrected himself hastily. "I'm overlooking the existence of a Caged-Bird Seal, which I only allow on the basis that you need time to find an alternative." He lifted a finger when they began to protest. "You understand what actions I could take here?"

They nodded grimly. An Uchiha scale massacre was entirely within the Hokage's prerogative during the militia law these disastrous times had prompted. "Yes, Hokage," one of them bit out irritatedly and led the others out of the room.

He nodded. "Then let the girl do as she likes with Hana, a girl you have all claimed has only a recessive inheritance of Byakugan and is useless for even the protection main family members." He leaned back in his chair and watched them accept his verdict. "As long as Hana consents, of course." As much as he hated to threaten, he did love to win.

As soon as they had left Sasuke appeared, having been there the whole time. He tended to listen in. Sakura followed, having seen the Hyuuga leave, and slipped in around them. "The question remains, where do we find a house for them," she asked, already having been briefed. "You're not really going to let them-"

Sasuke waved off her worry. "Akira needs a companion."

Naruto grinned, not having expected this development at all. "Woo! Sasuke!"

Sasuke hadn't expected the hug at all, and seized together as soon as Naruto grabbed him. "Ugh. Grow up." He relaxed a bit when Sakura joined the hug, but after a few moments he pushed them both out of his personal space and stalked away.

(*)

The nurse was shocked when she opened the door to exit a patient's room and saw a little girl blocking her path. "Is Hana recovered?" The child asked almost angrily. It was Haruhime, eyes stilled bound with green goggles to stop her manifesting Byakugan.

The nurse sighed, looking at her clipboard. "As recovered as she's getting, dearie," she replied. The nurse figured she could stay a few minutes into her lunch break to ease the worry of a scared looking little girl, so she took the girls hand (she seemed to consider pulling away for a moment) and led her into the room.

She helped the child up onto the bedside of the patient. "Can she hear me?" asked the dark skinned girl, gently stroking a tiny pale hand. The nurse had to admit that physically Hyuuga Hana seemed ridiculously delicate. But if her reason for entering the hospital was as she had heard, she was incredibly lucky to still be alive.

The nurse nodded for her patient. "Yes. Decently enough now, and perfectly in a few days," she reassured. "But she can neither see nor speak," she apologized. She didn't say that it would probably be permanent. It wasn't her responsibility.

Even so the expression on the girl's face was heartbreaking. "Then how-!"

The nurse patted the girls hair. "Calm down." brown cheeks puffed out in irritation, laid over the despair already present. The nurse laughed weakly. "Tactile sign language, child. Hana has already picked up a good deal of it."

Her face twisted in confusion. "What?"

The nurse sat carefully on the hospital bed and began to get comfortable. "I'll teach you."

(*)


	2. Chapter 2

Two Blossoms

(**)

"I plucked pink blossoms from mine apple-tree  
And wore them all that evening in my hair:  
Then in due season when I went to see  
I found no apples there."

-Christina Rossetti

(**)

Haruhime set down the last of Hana's belongings, and left her to unpack. Hana couldn't see, but Haruhime knew that helping her all the time wouldn't let her get used to her disability. She had carried the heavy boxes, now Hana could handle the rest. Haruhime would see how she was doing in a few minutes and then decide whether to help more. She found Sasuke standing by the pond. Seemingly lost in thought. When she got his attention, she asked "How much-"

Sasuke shook his head. "You will be joining Black-Ops as a Jounin," he said, with finality in his voice. "That is the only price I will accept. Your loyalty to Konoha without expectation of praise or reward." He sighed. "That is the world we live in now, and your price is accepting that fact." His eyes never moved from the path in the pond he'd been observing.

Haruhime shivered at the graveness of his voice. She shook her head. It would be impossible for her to become an Anbu Agent. "But what if I-"

He gave her a cold look. She fell into silence. "You'll just have to bear it." She knew he knew what he was talking about. He was the "Stained Right Hand," and definitely not just talking nonsense. Still, she didn't know how he could expect her to sign her life away. But then she realized what she would have had to do if he hadn't offered her this gift of safety for Hana. So instead of arguing, she nodded. That was fine. The only praise she cared about came from Hana or Father, and maybe perhaps Hisui.

Akira came out of the main Uchiha complex, looked around, and when she found them, walked over. "Hello Haruhime," she greeted with a weak smile. She had braided her hair and tucked cherry blossoms into the pleats. It was cute. She looked less sad than the day before.

Haru smiled back. "Hello Akira, are you feeling better today?"

Even as she nodded, Akira's eyes flashed blue-ish in a weird way for a moment, but the goggles still prevented Haruhime from using her Byakugan to see what had happened. "You're injured!" Haruhime stepped quickly back and tried to figure out what had given her away.

Haruhime shook her head. "I'm fine." She eyed Akira suspiciously. "How did you know that?"

Akira fidgeted. And then lied. Haruhime didn't need her Byakugan to see a liar. "Uh-" she shuddered. "Goggles. I spent a few days in the hospital. I know what they do." She pulled nervously at her hair. Haru saw silvery lines on pale skin, but blinked, and after that couldn't find them again.

Haruhime internally decided to find out about Akira's eyes, but let it go for that moment. "All right." She shrugged, as if that were a decent explanation. "Don't tell anyone." Akira sighed with relief, nodding. Haru saw that too. "Hana will be living here with you," Haruhime told her, matter of factly.

Akira nodded, smiling again. "And you?" Haruhime figured it must be lonely here, with only an adult Jounin for company. She also did wish she could come live with Akira and Hana. If it were allowed, she definitely would.

Haruhime shook her head. "I wont." She had to live in the complex. Being part of Main-Family meant they actually had more control over her life, not less. Besides, she had to keep an eye on them to make they didn't try anything.

Akira pouted, looking downcast again. her moods were not very stable, and they all showed on her face. "Oh." Haruhime didn't like to see emotions displayed so openly. Father had taught her to respect people's right to do so, but to always try to be rational herself. It was important to her survival. With father, a lot of things were about survival.

Haruhime patted Akira's small white hand. "But I'll be visiting Hana a lot so you'll see me." Hana turned towards the sound of her name, but didn't leave the doorway. She wouldn't have anything to hold on to if she did. "She can't talk, but she can hear you, and sign."

Akira shook her head. "I don't understand sign."

Haruhime shrugged. "It's okay." She tugged Akira by her hand towards the house. "It's pretty easy." Sasuke had vanished at some point, and she had no idea where. His footprints by the pond collected water, but that was all.

Akira watched carefully as Hana clasped Haruhime's hand. The older Hyuuga spoke the words Hana signed so Akira wouldn't be completely left out of the conversation. "Come..." A pause. "...Garden" Hana signed very slowly, as if she were afraid to mess up. "...With me?" Haruhime smiled and replied with a cheery: "Okay. Let's plant fruits. You can taste those. Flowers are silly if you can't see them, Hana." Hana signed again, "But..." She slowed down, and signed individual letters. "H... A... R... U... " Haruhime nodded. "Haru?" She asked.

"She called you Haru?" Akira asked softly.

Haruhime shrugged. "You can call me Haru now. Haruhime is too long for Hana to spell out." She shrugged. "Besides, its such a Hyuuga name. It's way too long." Haru knew she was making a face, but she didn't expect Akira to know where it came from. And Hana couldn't see her anyway. Haruhime was a silly, stuffy name. She'd rather just be Hana's Haru, than the whole clan's Haruhime.

Akira nodded. "Okay. H... A... R... U?" She carefully copied the letters that Hana had made her hands in the air.

Haru nodded. "That's right! You're getting really good at this." There had been another flash of that blue light. Whatever she was doing, it had something to do with understanding, and eyes. Like a Byakugan and Sharingan, maybe. They went outside, taking Hana's gardening supplies with them.

Akira pointed to the wall the surrounding the complex and told them: "Sasuke-san says the boundaries are the cherry-blossom trees. We can't plant outside them." She pointed to another patch. "Anything that way is okay though."

Haru gave her a questioning look. "Did he say why?" the earth beyond the wall didn't look any different to her. It was dark brown, and had grass peeking out in some places.

Akira shook her head, but she was looking too, just as curious. "No," she replied. "But let's not risk it."

They found a patch in the safe area that they liked and began turning the earth so they could plant in it. Hana was digging the straightest lines, even though she couldn't see them at all. Akira's were messy, and Haru's were too. "Hey Akira?" Haru asked eventually.

Akira took a break, and sat down on the now soft earth. "Hmm?"

Haru hesitated, then asked: "Are you going to be joining the academy?"

Akira shook her head. "I want to be a medic. Not a shinobi," she replied. Its not that she couldn't understand fighting, it was only that it didn't hold a particular appeal to her.

"You could be both." Haru shrugged. "But you'd have to go to the Academy and learn basic ninja stuff before they let you get medical combat training." She dug her spade into the ground again and again to hide how nervous she was. She couldn't afford to twitch or fidget around. "Unless you only want to work in a hospital."

Akira put her hand on Haru's, stopping her from using the shovel. "Are you-" She chewed her lip, as if worrying about Haru already. "Are you going to fight? Even when-" She gestured to her eyes, as if nervous to say it out loud. Haru was happy she didn't. It would have hurt too much.

Haru nodded. "I'm definitely going to fight," she replied. She would fight for this village, if only to keep Hana safe. It wasn't as if Sasuke had given her options. She had to be Black-Ops. Therefore she had to fight, and be good at it.

Akira frowned. "Oh. Death is scary and sad," she murmured. she held her own shovel to her chest, and pulled up her knees trying to roll into a ball.

Haru nodded, petting Akira's hair to try and comfort her. "It is..." She hugged the pale girl to her in her arms. "Are you okay?" She sighed, wiping Akira's tears with a cream colored sleeve.

"Smile, Akira-chan. Don't look so depressed." She made herself smile even though she didn't really feel that much like it. Even if she did she'd normally try not to. "Everything's gonna get better from now on," she promised.

Akira sniffled. "Swear?" She held out her pinky and waited.

Haru nodded. "Swear," she said, linking their pinky fingers and tugging. "I promise."

Akira nodded, seeming to accept that. "Okay."

Haru smiled. "Don't worry. I'll protect you and Hana!"

She giggled, even though her eyes were still red. "With a gardening spade?" She hit it with her own, and there was a soft metallic sound. Even Hana's shoulders shook. She'd be laughing if she could. Haru knew it.

She rolled her eyes, and pretended to be annoyed. "Shush!" She looked at where the sun was in the sky and jerked guiltily. "... I have to go home now, Father will be expecting me," she admitted.

Akira hugged her goodbye and said: "See you later then."

"Bye!" Haru replied. Hana reached for her, and she linked hands with the girl. "Good bye, pretty Hana." Her hands twisted into the shapes of words. and Haru nodded, sincerely. "I'll miss you too."

She waved at Uchiha Sasuke , who happened to be at the gate as she was leaving. She wondered what he could be doing. "Goodbye Sasuke-san. Thank you for having me." She bowed.

He gave her a casual nod, and an even more casual reply. "Your house." With that, he turned, and wandered. off. Although since it was Uchiha Sasuke, it didn't look like wandering. It looked purposeful. Everything he did looked purposeful, though Haru couldn't really tell what the purpose was. She kind of admired him for that.

"I guess it is," Haru said to no one in particular, looking back at the sector of the Uchiha complex she technically owned. But she would be late if she didn't hurry, so she didn't look for long.

(**)

Akira hadn't been doing anything bad, but she still jumped when she realized Sasuke -san had been standing behind her. "Akira," he greeted her. Nor formalities, just her name. Sasuke did that, she'd noticed. He'd say either their first or last name and add nothing to it. Maybe he thought rank didn't matter to him. Maybe- he thought no one deserved his respect. It was all possible, and it wasn't like he was going to explain.

She turned to face, him and realized there was really no reason to be nervous. "Sasuke-san?" His expression wasn't happy, but it didn't look annoyed or angry either. He looked curious. That was okay.

He gestured to his eyes, making a swooping gesture where she knew blue-ish light had outlined her eyes for a few moments before. "Talk." Nevermind, she definitely had a reason to be nervous. He was going to ask her about home. She didn't want to think about it. It made her tummy feel sick and her head hurt. He looked vaguely annoyed when she hesitated.

She shivered. "About what? I've told you everything about the attack," she said all in one rush, hoping that it would make the be conversation over faster.

He nodded. "And before that?"

Akira fidgeted with the long sleeves of the uchiha kimono she wore. Sasuke had hand washed a whole trunk of them for her when she had arrived. "Before that I lived with my clan. In a big house." She remembered, even though it hurt. She remembered the smell of food cooking, bright silver and gold streamers. "We were having a party-" she whispers. She touched her temples and rubbed to make the pain go away. "Everyone was happy," she whispered, remembering them all alive and happy didn't make her happy. In fact, it made her sad. "Especially mama, because she said I had the eyes."

Sasuke-san seemed to perk up at that, his expression became more intense. "The eyes," he repeated, silently demanding clarification.

Akira nodded. "Yeah."

He seemed to think for a moment. "Which eyes?"

Akira shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders. "They just told me 'the eyes,'" she replied. Honestly everyone in her family had been super secretive about it. they had said they would tell her at the end of the party- but the end of the party came about in the midst of blood and steel. She'd never found out.

Sasuke-san's eyes bled red and his pupils changed shape. "These?"

Akira shrieked. What in kami's name happened to his eyes? "Ahh!" She shook her head frantically. "No! What is that?"

He didn't reply. Instead he just murmured, "Interesting. I wasn't aware that village housed a kekkei-genkai." Which made absolutely no sense to Akira at all. Shinobi had a bunch of weird words she didn't understand. His eyes went back to normal. "Anything else?"

Akira shook her head. "I don't remember."

He nodded, and patted her head carefully. As if he weren't' sure it would be okay to do it. "That's normal." His hands were large and warm, like any other human's. She hadn't expected them to be.

Akira called out to him as he began to walk away. "Should I tell you if I remember?"

Sasuke nodded carefully. "Yes, and it would probably be better if you told no one else."

(**)

The nurses carefully pulled Haru's goggles off her face. She rubbed her cheeks. Everything felt fine for now. The chakra paths in her face were lying low. She nodded. The nurse smiled, pulling her onto her feet. "Now just slowly pull the chakra into your hands only." She was gently sticking little rubber pads to Haru's face and eyes.

She nodded. focusing her chakra into pinpoints at the tips of her fingers. A wavering blur of chakra blazed out of her fingertips, before sputtering and dying out. "What's happening?" Haru spun to look at the nurse confused. She felt the chakra melt away from her, instead of standing up like blades. Then, suddenly it rushed out of her center, up into her head, to force her wounded pathways open. Suddenly she was seeing everything in shades of white and pale lavender, brighter where there was more chakra. At the level her eyes were forcing chakra through their channels everything was bright white.

The silhouette of the nurse stepped quickly back, shaking her head frantically. "I don't understand."

A doctor shouted, "Stop, honey. Stop!" She was stroking Haru's hair, until she suddenly pulled back as though she'd been burned.

Haru tried- she really did. But it was as if a dam had broken. The second her energy found a way out, it refused to be quarantined again. She felt as though someone was pulling her insides out of her mouth. "I can't-" She cried. "It's so bright-" Haru fell to her knees and crawled into a ball. The chakra in her hands made everything the same white, and a little bit less dizzying, so she clamped them over her eyes and sad very still. "I can't see," she whispered. "What's going on?"

Her father lifted her up, and she curled into his slow, steady, heartbeat. "You told me she'd make a full recovery," he accused. His voice was still low, and strong. He carefully pulled the goggles back over her eyes, and all the blazing died down. Haru didn't cry. She wanted to. He pet her hair and tucked her into the hospital bed. That was better. Especially when he tucked the blankets around her.

The doctor apologized profusely. "We didn't know about this-" She flipped through her clipboard seeking some sort of information. "The survival of a cage-bird seal has never occurred. We just treated it like chakra shock. This could take years to fix." She tapped the plastic clipboard with her pen. "It's improved over last time, at least."

Her father's voice came from somewhere above but she was too disoriented to place it. "That's not good enough." Then, closer to her ear. "I'm sorry, Haruhime," he apologized softly.

She shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. "It's fine, papa." She said it but she didn't mean it. It wasn't fine. She wanted her chakra back. She wanted to be able to fight, and protect Hana, and use the Byakugan and-

The doctors voice interrupted her downward spiral of fear. "You may want to consult with the Aburame Clan. They are chakra flow experts, after all." Haru inhaled sharply, feeling the sharp spike of hope in her chest. "Maybe their insects could help her by draining excess chakra."

Her father scooped Haru up in his arms again and carried her off. He walked swiftly, and with purpose, and Haru passed out before they had made it down the stairs.

When she awoke there was a boy about her age staring at her from behind a giant glass ant farm. All the ants seemed to be swarming towards the side of the tank Haru was sitting by. She carefully scooted her body away from them as the clamored against the lid of the tank, unable to get out. "What are you doing here?" asked the boy.

Haru hung her head, feeling dejected all over again. "My chakra won't stay inside," she admitted. The boy was pale, and he had on black glasses and a high turtleneck that hid most of his face and body. A red ant crawled over his cheek and vanished into his hair. Haru shivered.

He shrugged, carelessly, like she wasn't worried about the safety of people she loved otr her rapidly collapsing future. "So? Doesn't everyone get like that when they first start?"

Haru shook her head. "No."

The looked confused, even behind all his clothing. "My whole family experienced it," he stated in a tone that told Haru the thought of this being a result of an injury had never occurred to him. He thought it was just the natural path of things. "Even though you are a little old for this to be happening. It should have been last year."

Haru was interested now. She scooted closer, regardless of the bugs. "How did you get better?" she asked, eyes wide and pleading. She was ready to devour any information he could give. She needed her chakra back.

The boy shrugged. "By finding your bug! Duh." Haru slumped, and if she knew any swear words, she would have used them then. "They straighten out your chakra paths, like tunnels in a hive." She moaned into her knees, dropping her head to rest on top of them.

"I'm a Hyuuga, I don't get to find a bug."

The boy looked shocked again. Apparently he didn't have many normal friends, if he thought everyone was an Aburame like him. "Well, maybe you could borrow some of mine?" he replied, after a moment of seeming to think very hard. "It won't hurt a lot, I promise?"

Haru scrunched up her nose. "Eww thats weird." Then after a moment her curiosity overrode her dislike of bugs and she leaned closer. "... What bugs do you have, show me!" Hiari reached under his shirt and pulled out the queen ant from somewhere Haru couldn't have seen. She was maroon red and looked completely relaxed as her antenna tapped out the patterns on his palms. He told her about how many eggs the queen would lay in a day, and how he had to be very careful on certain days not to eat anything weird that would make her sick. It was all very strange to Haru. It was also very cool.

Just when she was about to be allowed to hold the queen, her father came out of the room he must have been using to meet with the healer of the Aburame clan. "Haruhime we're leaving," he informed her. Haru gave the queen back as carefully as she could, and then followed her father to the door.

The Aburame healer called out after them, sounding sad. Haru could imagine why. He probably felt pity for her, now that she would probably never amount to a proper ninja anymore. "Hyuuga-San, we can help your daughter."

Her father shook his head. "I'm sorry Aburame-San. But the clans rules forbid such a thing." He pushed over the door and made to leave, but not before he sighed. "I could lose my life for doing such a thing." Haru almost gasped, but stopped herself. She'd known that could happen. Of course she did, revealing secrets of the Hyuuga physiology was considered treason to the clan. It still hurt hard to think about it. To realize her father could die for trying to make her better. She felt a bubbling blister of hatred for the Hyuuga clan burst in her chest.

The Aburame just nodded gravely. "I understand. I hope you find an equal solution."

Neji took Haruhime's hand, and squeezed it tighter than her normally would have. She could tell he was upset, even though neither of them wore it on their faces. They were more than that. Or less. Haru wasn't sure anymore. "As do I."

Haru wanted to scream.

(**)

Hiari's queen ant was chattering at him. Telling him about how much chakra the girl had, and how it was collecting and going bad. She wanted to build a nest in the girl's body. Hiari spent a few moments explaining why she wouldn't be allowed to do that. "I feel bad for her, dad," he told his father. His father had been tending his leeches, but stopped when Hiari spoke to give him his full attention.

"Well," Hiari's father began, sounding more tired than usual. "Without her father's permission there's nothing we can do, son. Just go play." He winked at Her and whispered: "I know you were thinking about that anthill all breakfast."

Hiari was distracted from his thoughts about the girl with the pearly lavender eyes by the thought of the huge anthill in the park. "Okay!" He jumped into his shoes as fast as he could and ran out the door. If he was lucky he could let his ants launch an attack on that anhill and steal the eggs. he could keep the eggs in a farm and learn about them, since they were a species he'd never seen before.

When he got to the park he ignore the playground in favor of the anthill, but when the invasion was underway, he began to hear voices chatting not far behind him.

"Hello, I'm Akira," chirped a cheerful and nice-sounding voice.

Another girl, who looked like a civilian based on that the bugs were telling him. "Why are your eyes so weird?" Her voice was not as nice. In fact, she sounded mean. "That's so weird ew!" Hiari didn't feel like someone's eyes were reason enough to be mean. One of his uncles didn't have eyes, just holes. The insects had eaten his. But everyone was still nice to him. He had the best insects too: Giant millipedes.

The mean girls mom came and pulled her out of the sandbox by her arm. "Don't play with her Nami, she looks like one of those orphans." Her eyes looked scared. She held her bag very close to her chest, and tugged at her daughter.

The girl added: "Yeah, I wanted to go to another playground anyway," and followed her mother. They both walked very fast, as if they were afraid of a little girl. Hiari knew could tell by the girls chakra that she didn't want to attack anyone. Why did people always ignore that in favor of rumors?

He felt like he should talk to the girl with the so-called weird eyes. "Hi. I'm Hiari."

She jumped, and looked at him with eyes that were almost tearing up. She sniffled, rubbing her tears off on her sleeves. "I'm Akira," she said, her voice cracking a little bit. He'd got her just before she started crying. That was good. "Do you think I'm weird because my eyes are silver?"

He shook his head. "Bugs. Live inside me." He shrugged. "Nothing you can do is weird enough." Besides. He thought her silver eyes were really pretty, even if he'd never seen any that color before. Different didn't always mean bad. And she hadn't done anything bad so far.

She took a step back, her expression twisted in confusion and disgust. "Is that a joke?"

"No." He made his insects crawl out his sleeves onto his hand. He was having to show a lot of girls his bugs today. He didn't know how he felt about that. It was okay, probably. "I have bugs. They crawl inside me. Try and one up me, I dare you."

She grabbed his hand, pulling it towards her. "Oh my gosh!" Her eyes flashed with light. "Let me see!" Hiari let her look at his arm, but focused on her face to see what would happen to the building lines of light around her eyes. "Is that where they crawl out."

He jumped, and jerked back under his sleeves. Anyone could see the bugs, but not the holes- those were a clan secret. "You've seen inside my sleeve." He stared her dead in the eye. "We have to get married now." It was the only way to prevent clan secrets from spilling outside the family. No one had seen them before- they were too small to notice, hidden well. or at least- they should be.

Akira laughed. She didn't get it at all, what had happened. "What?" She giggled. "That's definitely a joke," she teased him. The lines had gone away. Hiari blinked. Had he imagined them?

He shook his head gravely and said "I never joke," with a smirk. She'd assume it was a joke, but Hiari knew. She'd have to marry him or the clan secrets would get out. Well, it could still be worse. She could have been a girl who didn't have a pretty smile and silvery eyes.

(**)

Akira laughed. Her sadness got lighter and floated away when Hiari started making jokes to her. He was funny and nice. His jokes were a little silly though. She invited him to play on the swings with her, and he invited her to look at the anthill with him. they ended up doing both, in that order.

When they arrived at the ant hill, red ants were trooping out of the nest with little white specs carried on their backs. "We stole their larvae," Hiari told her. His expression was strange, and a little scary. the red ants scurried up his sandals and into his clothes where they vanished. Akira remembered the little hole and wondered if they entered his body through there. He wouldn't tell her about it, but they had to get in there somehow.

"I'm an Aburame," was all he said. "Insects are our blood-line." "I keep red ants now but later father said he'd let me have something harder. What do you think I should get?" Distracted, Akira started to try and think of the best insects.

"Scorpions maybe," she offered. He nodded, smiling, probably daydreaming about scorpions. Akira didn't understand how someone could be so excited about insects, but it was pretty cool that he had a skill that was useful and important to him.

"I've never seen you at the academy," he added. Akira shook her head, and explained she'd arrived in the village only a month ago, and that there was no way she could possibly be enrolled in the academy. Hiari shrugged. "You should ask, then we could play more, and you'd learn to defend yourself from mean girls at the playground."

"Now you're just teasing me!" Akira cried. But, there was something to what he said. Shinobi were weird. Normal people thought she was weird, but the Shinobi would probably just accept her. She could have friends again, and play with others. She decided then to ask Sasuke-san if she could enroll.

She said goodbye to Hiari after they traded addresses, and ran home to the Uchiha complex. She could honestly call it that: home. Sasuke-san wasn't very smiley, but he wasn't mean and cooked dinner for her and Hana when he was home. He showed her how to do chores around the house, and once- he had let her draw pretty pictures all over a blank scroll he had, and helped her hand it in her new room.

"Sasuke-san?" She asked. he was practicing a fighting style probably. That was usually what he did. Hana was nearby, gardening. Akira didn't know what the point was if Hana couldn't even see the flowers that would come out. She didn't really understand it, but if it was what Hana wanted to do.

"Akira," he acknowledged. He stood still and waited for her to bring up whatever it is she wanted to tell him.

"I want to go to the academy and make friends," she burst out.

He blinked. As if shocked. "You've missed a few months of classes." He folded his arms. Akira pouted. "How will I know you can keep up?" He was kinda right, and that was the worst part- what if she couldn't keep up with the lessons in the academy.

She set her hands into fists and stamped her foot. Now was not the time to wuss out. She wanted to go the academy and meet people who wouldn't think she was weird. "You know I learn fast, Sasuke-san," she argued.

He nodded, and smirked a little. "Yes," he finally replied. "If you can do a days worth of academy exercises you can go."

Akira nodded. She hoped she could do it, but if Haru could she could too!

"Start with thirty push ups." Sasuke- San didn't folded his arms and sat down on a rock to watch her. "Legs straight. No "girl" pushups. Those are for shinobi resigned to being weak." Akira did her best, but pushups were so hard, and when he moved her arms into the "correct form," it got even harder. She kept going up to ten before she slipped and fell down. Sasuke-san raised an eyebrow at her, and she got up quickly and kept going. when she got to twenty her arms were shaking already, and she was sweaty. It had only been a few minutes!

"What do I do now Sasuke-san?"

"Just Sasuke." He showed her the proper posture for running, and kept correcting her until rhe could do it jogging in place. Honestly that was tiring enough. "And run a lap around the garden. Keep your arms close to your body, don't waste energy." He sat back down on the rock. She set off in a jog, already panting. Her arms felt like jelly. "Sprint." Akira forced herself to run as fast as she could, even though her whole body protested every step she took.

She wanted to just lie down and give up- but if she did she might never make new friends. She might be alone. Not that Hana wasn't nice, but- she couldn't climb, she couldn't run fast. It wasn't the same. And Haru seemed so busy lately. Akira didn't want to be a bother.

She finally skidded to a stop in front of her guardian. He made her climb a tree. It took her ages to scrabble to the top, bark under her nails and scraping her knees. When she finally got up there, he just followed her, walking straight up the tree without breaking a sweat. She clutched the trunk of the tree and tried to make her heartbeat stop hammering in her chest. "Did I pass?"

Sasuke nodded, handing her a kunai knife. "You pass." He carefully ruffled her hair again and Akira grinned at him. Maybe life in Konoha would be a good thing.

(**)

Hiari walked with Akira in the cool yellow light of the morning. It was warm, but not hot, and Akira was smiling a lot. His queen was happy too, since these conditions were good for ants. When they arrived at the academy, they chose their seats, and sat to wait for the teacher. Out of the corner of his eyes he caught a cream colored jacket and shoulder length black hair. "Wait here Akira, I have to give someone something." He caught the Hyuuga-girls eyes and made a hidden gesture that she should follow him. After a moment, she nodded.

Akira hadn't noticed at all, too entertained by her new school supplies and gear. Instead of her kimono, she now had on a short dress with high slits on the sides and compression leggings. Both were black, and had the Uchiha insignia somewhere on them. Hiari wondered who they had belonged to, and where all the other Uchihas had gone. He'd asked, but his father had only told her they were dead. Not why, or how. "Okay. I told Haru I'd meet her here with a new friend anyway. That's you, by the way!" Hiari didn't tell her that he was in fact meeting Haru. Even if they knew each other, Haru might not want Akira knowing about anything like this.

When he saw her sneak into the meeting place his bugs had chosen, he bowed formally to her the way her father had done to his. Hopefully she'd realize it was a joke. "Hyuuga-kun," he said, as serious as possible.

She smirked, but then schooled her face into a straight line and bowed as well. "Aburame-kun," she replied, stiffly. Then, they both burst into snickers. "Hey," she greeted again, much more causally, hands in her pockets. She almost stood like a boy.

Hiari pulled her to sit down, and she crossed her legs, looking at him with a concentrated face and waiting for him to explain himself. "I can help you-" he stated "I know how to do what father wanted to do."

She sat up straighter, leaned closer. "Oh?"

He nodded. He hadn't been sure what he was doing was the right thing when he'd borrowed his dad's scrolls, but with how nervously happy Haru was starting to look, it had been definitely the right thing to do. "But you'd have to keep it a secret okay?" He passed her a bag, and opened it once she was holding it in her lap. A clear glass jar, with a metal top. not to mention the fat black leech inside, bigger than his hand. It was fat, and wide, but mostly flat. It had a circular mouth full of flat teeth, and Hiari could hear it complaining about the daylight shining on it through the leaves of the trees.

Haru blinked. She was shocked, even if it didn't show much. He knew her emotions were mostly small on her face, but when she talked sometimes they sounded really big. Father had said most Hyuuga's were like that. loud inside only. "What is it?" she asked, carefully taking the glass, careful not to drop it. It smelled her unmoving chakra and began to squirm, recognizing the patient Hiari had told it about.

"A leech," he said. It was obvious. What else could it be? How many aquatic freshwater worms were used for healing anyway?

She snickered and shook her head. "No, I meant, why did you bring it with you?"

She obviously hadn't made the connection yet. He was about to explain when the first bell rang. they didn't have time to explain since they needed to be in their seats in five minutes. "We should start treatment right now!" He rushed talking, while pulling the leech out of the jar. "It takes a few years." He pet it, so it would sit very still in his hand. "Open your shirt, no one can see it." She did what he was asking without hesitating, that was good, it saved time. Her undershirt left her stomach exposed, and he dropped the leech onto her. The leech found the closest skin to her confused chakra center and latched on, even though Haru shrieked in disgust.

Hiari tied a damp cloth around haru's middle and zipped her jacket back up before tugging her back to the sidewalk so they could go towards the classroom. Haru stumbled, weighing heavily on his arm. "I'm dizzy-" she said, low enough that no one else could hear. "Whoa."

She got her feet under her, and then it looked less like he was supporting her, and more like they were close friends. "Its gonna drain all your chakra," He replied in an equally low voice. "When it builds back up slowly, you'll have a chance to heal."

Haru nodded. Her face was determined, even though she swayed whenever they stopped walking for a few seconds. "What do I have to do?"

"Keep the leech wet." He poked her stomach so she could feel the wet cloth. "Put it in a tank to swim sometimes." The he said, very seriously, because this was one of the most important rules. "Don't let it die, or I'll have to find a new one- this took me two hours." Haru nodded, and her face looked sincere. "Most leeches don't like helping people."

"This is weird," she whispered.

"At least they didn't stick it to your face like they did to me," Hiari whispered back, as they finally took their seats at the desk just in time. Haru looked like she wanted to sleep, so Hiari put his bag on the table standing up. No one would notice if she put her head down behind it.

She put her head on her folded arms. "They didn't!" she accused, softly.

He was about to reply when the instructor rapped his ruler on the desk and began lecturing.

(**)

Haru had barely walked through the door when her father pulled her to the side and gave her a sharp look. She knew she was in for a scolding and did her best not to flinch or look guilty. That could only make it worse. "I know about the leech Haru." His voice wasn't as loud as usual, so she whispered too. Damn. She thought she'd be able to hide it from papa for a least a week.

She bowed her head, and kept her hands neatly folded behind her back. "Father I-" She'd probably cry if he made her give it back. She needed her chakra. She didn't know what to do with herself without it. Her hands grip on one another tightened. "I'm sorry father."

Her papa shook his head, he pulled her into a hug, and she realized that was why he had taken her out of sight of all the others before starting the conversation. "I give you permission to move out." His voice was at full volume now. The other would hear. "Go live in another wing if you aren't happy." He knelt and touched her hair. "It's not safe to bring that here." He added, his voice low.

She nodded. "Yes, Papa." She once again found herself moving the box of her belongings, few as they were out of the room and into the hall. No one blinked when they saw her. After what happened to Hana, it was understandable. Some of them even seemed to pity her.

She left the compound. She didn't know anything about the empty wing, but she didn't want to deal with it until morning. She supposed she could go to the Uchiha complex for the night. She was about to exit the side gate that conjoined the properties, but as soon as she was surely alone she could take no more steps. She huddled in the jasmine hedges and began to sob. They were blooming, since it was evening, and quickly becoming nighttime. She shivered.

She shed three real tears, but the rest of her cry was restrained to a tight feeling twisting her heart in her chest, breathing like she'd been punched in the stomach, and lying pathetically on her side. She wanted to be at home with papa. Stupid clan. Stupid chakra. Stupid stupid Haru! Why was everything wrong like this?

(**)

Hisui was walking home when saw a familiar outline in the jasmines. "Why are you out here?" He asked. She curled tighter into the little ball her body formed. He knelt by her side and touched her shoulder slowly and lightly. He knew about how she could lash out when she was surprised by a touch. She looked up at him, finally. Her eyes were reddish, and her lips were set in a firmly unhappy line. "I haven't seen you in a while, and this is how I find you," he tried to joke. She didn't smile. She did shiver, though. As of seeing him reminded her that the outside world and its weather existed. He took off his outer layer, a tan canvas jacket, leaving only the fishnet and armored vest he wore underneath. "Put this on."

She didn't move, so he wrapped it around her, and scooped her up. I hadn't been wrong when I said she was thin and petite. Like a doll, except much more deadly. "I hate them," she finally whispered. She still hadn't protested about being picked up, but Hisui wasn't sure where to take her. She had her things. She probably wasn't planning to go the main house. Or even the branch house. The safest thing would be an empty wing in one of the currently empty homes. Many Hyuuga had died in the last war defending Konoha. The empty halls were melancholy to him, as he thought of their sacrifices. The rooms were still maintained in case of guests, though. And they would definitely be deserted.

"Why?" Hisui asked, picking up her belongings and giving them to her to hold, even as he still carried her. With both burdens secured, he made his way across the grounds. She was hiding her face so her reply was muffled. He had to ask her to repeat herself.

"This clan is so heartless." Hisui felt a pang of guilt and hugged her closer for a moment. "They won't let me be happy- not even for a minute." He didn't really feel like he had the right to touch her, but she clung to his jacket. It would have made it hard to put her down even if he wanted to. He wanted to ask what had happened since he'd last seen her. She'd been in the hospital. After that he'd tried, but failed to talk to her. She'd either slipped away, or he'd lost the nerve.

He took. A deep breath. "Haruhime-" he began.

She shook her head and punched his shoulder. He gritted his teeth against the pain. She never pulled her punches. It was both good and bad. "It's just Haru! Okay?"

"Okay." He wheezed, setting her down on a window sill of the empty house and rubbing his shoulder. "Haru." He pried the window open. Getting a key would involve explaining why he needed it. By the looks of Haruhim- no Haru- it wouldn't be good to leave her alone. "Come inside." He climbed through and held out his arms to her. "The south wing is empty. We won't see anyone." Hisui took her box and set in on a slightly dusty table to encourage her to follow him inside. "Come in- It's cold."

Haru slipped inside, hesitantly. As if she didn't trust him much more than anyone else in the clan. "Okay." She finally put her feet on the wood floors, and lurched into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his midsection- it was about as high as she could reach. He pretended not to hear her crying, because he knew it would probably embarrass her. She had as much pride as any adult, and more control- most of the time.

He pushed his hair back behind his ear, it had escaped its tie and was getting in his face. "I'm sorry," he murmured to her. Eventually she calmed down, and let him pull her to one of the bedrooms. "You should sleep," he told her. He couldn't order her, but she would feel better after sleeping, he hoped. Maybe then they could really talk, and he might be able to help.

When he heard her jacket zipper go down, he turned to leave, satisfied she had taken his advice. He'd come back later in the night with some food. They didn't stock the shelves, it would have been a waste if food went bad in an empty home. "Don't go!" he stopped in his tracks, and turned back. She was huddled under the covers in her leggings and undershirt, but looked as if she might get up and follow him if he took another step.

Hisui nodded. "I'll be right..." he looked around the room carefully, since there was no way he could sleep in the same bed with her. It was inappropriate on a lot of levels. He found a suitable squashy armchair in one corner and folded down into it. "Here," he announced with finality. She smiled weakly for the first time since he'd last sparred with her, and settled back down, curling up with his jacket as a pillow. He'd wait here till she was asleep, then go do the things he planned.

He didn't plan to fall asleep in that armchair, but he did. Haru took a long time to fall asleep, and by the time she did, Hisiu was so drowsy that her soft, even breaths pulled him under too. When he woke up his jacket was neatly folded, as were the sheets. The girl her box were gone, and he was late to meet his jounin sensei. Damn. 

(**)

Haru ran across the Uchiha grounds, past Sasuke-san, who was quietly practicing forms, as he usually did unless Akira asked for tutoring. She ground to a stop in front of a deceptively formal tea-party. Both wore formal kimono, and the teaset looked old, and chipped with time. "Hey, Akira-chan," Haru greeted. She touched a pale cheek with her hand, and Hana smiled, grasping Haru's hand. "Pretty Hana!" The younger Hyuuga trilled softly.

They discovered Hana could make sounds as long as they weren't words. She'd started using echos to sense what was around her. Explaining that in sign had taken a thousand years to Haru, but once she got it, she had literally screamed in happiness. There hadn't been any other way for that,much happiness to escape her body.

Still, Haru couldn't be much happier. She'd gotten used to living apart from papa (it had been a year after all, and she wasn't a baby), her grades at the academy were the best in her age group, Hisui made time to spar with her despite his rigorous training to become a chunin, and Hana was getting better, slowly. So was Haru. The more of her chakra the leech had sucked up, the lighter she felt, like it had been weighing her down.

Losing it all had made her feel weak and sick at first, but now she knew how strong she was physically, even with low levels of chakra. It wasn't so bad. Her chakra built back up slightly every day since she'd returned the leech back to Hiari, and now it was just playing the waiting game for her natural systems to kick back into producing chakra.

And on top of it all, it was Hana's birthday!

'Sasuke-san gave me this as a gift,' Hana signed. Her hands flitted quickly through the words. 'He said- some things are meant to be used, and lose their value if not.' She then gestured that she thought Sasuke-san was a funny person, giggling into her hand.

Akira giggled too. Haru smirked, and took the empty place at their tea setting. She set the small cake she'd brought along in the center of the table. She'd repainted the shopkeeper's sign to earn it. It hadn't been too hard, and she considered it time well spent, since tasting the icing made Hana clap her hands in delight. Haru had left off the seven candles. They were pointless anyway.

(**)

Akira was at the Yamanaka flower shop, purchasing soil and seeds for Hana. She could get around safely, but still got uncomfortable in crowded areas. The part of town the shop was in was almost always busy. She stopped curiously by some small saplings with pretty leaves. "Those smell very interesting when you plant them, and the fruits taste like chocolate pudding."

Akira gasped. "That's amazing!" She picked up the sapling. "I think Hana will like it. Sasuke might find it silly." Sasuke had been a pretty good sport about Hana's plants though. They popped up all over the garden in pretty little clusters and beds, but it was only as organized as a girl who couldn't see could be. Akira had caught him making a flower arrangement once on her birthday, and eating the fruits or vegetables multiple times. That was pretty much the extent of his interference.

The shopkeeper brightened. "Uchiha Sasuke?" Her eyes then widened comically as she looked straight at Akira's face. "You're an Uchiha?" She seemed to be looking for similarities between her face, and her guardian's. Other than the similar colorings in their skin and hair, they didn't look much alike at all.

Akira shook her head and admitted. "I'm adopted. My family died in a natural disaster." She still couldnt remember what it had been, only that she'd heard screaming, lost consciousness in a stampede, and woke up with Sasuke giving her first aid on a rocky outcropping. There hadn't been any tree in sight, only stone. She had no idea where that place was in relation to her home, or Konoha, because she'd lost consciousness again shortly after waking up.

The woman's expression fell. Disappointment, and knowing sadness were in her eyes, and it made Akira feel suddenly much more sad too. "So you don't have the Sharingan?" she asked, trying to be cheery again.

Akira smiled weakly, because the women hadn't wanted to upset her. She should try to smile. "No, I'm just regular."

The shopkeeper shook her head. "That's a shame." She folded her arms, and thought looked as though she were remembering. "There should be more of them. There used to be." 

Akira shrugged. "Sasuke told me Sharingan was recessive- none of his kids would have it." Unless the mom had the sharingan, he could have as many kids as he wanted, but none of them would have the ability. None of their kids either. It was basically already a lost art. She felt like that explained a lot of Sasuke's behaviour.

"Well he should still get married. Maybe the next generation will show for something. You never know, and better safe than sorry." She sighed, dreamily. "Besides, he's too lonely." Akira frowned. and what was she? chopped liver? Akira was pretty sure that if Sasuke's own kids were the only thing that could prevent him from being lonely, he wouldn't offer to train with Akira or Haru sometimes.

Besides- "I'm not sure Sasuke-san even likes women, Yamanaka-San." Akira whipped around with a grin. Haru had appeared in the shop. Sure they'd planned to meet here, but Akira hadn't been sure exactly when she'd show up. Hisui was with her, taller than both of them by a whole lot of inches.

His hair was wrapped up into a bun and tied with a plain white band. Haru's hair wasn't long enough for that yet, so she wore it open, since she hadn't been training that day. they both wore casual clothes and sandals. It looked like they'd been having a good time, because even Hisui was smiling a little bit.

"Oh, hello Haru-chan." Yamanaka-san grinned at them, waving cheerfully. She flipped her bright yellow hair over her shoulder. She looked at Hisui, not recognizing him. "I suppose you're here to carry those bags of soil, I put them in a crate by the door."

Hisui nodded. "Yes ma'am," he replied, picking up the crate as if it were pretty light. Akira had tried to lift them before, and they had been anything but light. She'd been able to lift them, but not very far.

Akira gave Haru a hug, and when she let go, the shopkeeper was giving them both a sly look. "Look at you," she accused Haru. "Using your looks to get free labour."

Haru blushed, a flush of red under her brown skin. Akira thought "Eh, Yamanaka-san its not really like that~" she waved her hands in an embarrassed gesture.

"Isn't it?" Yamanaka-san smirked knowingly. "He seems quite taken."

Haru hid behind her hair. "Yamanaka-san, please."

The blonde woman giggled. Akira was trying not to laugh, but giggled a little at how hard Haru was trying to stay calm. Haru whirled and ran away to where Haru had been waiting for them. Akira followed, giggling softly.

The shopkeeper waved from the door. "You girls be safe now!"

Akira whispered: "So, Hisui huh?" She poked Haru in the side, and squealed when she got poked back.

"Don't even go there, Akira-chan."

(**)

Hisiu dropped the soil off in the shed in the Uchiha complex. He turned and almost walked into a small girl. She made a soft noise of distress. "Hello Hana." He caught her elbows and steadied her on her feet. "I'm sorry I hit you." Her hands started flitting into signs he knew were words. Hana had taught them to him, but it had been a while. They'd kind of slipped from his life for a while. Haru had a knack for doing that. He could barely catch her for spars. He couldn't identify all the signs at this speed. "Please, slow down. I'm out of practice."

'Hello H-I-S-I-U. it's been a long time. I'm making a bouquet for Haru. Will you help me choose flowers?'' Her hands moved slowly and deliberately. Hana made soft clicking sounds as she navigated around the shed. He wondered what they did, she moved almost like she could see where she was going. The way she felt around on the table told Hisui that she didn't. She picked up cutters and a wooden vase.

He took her hand, and led her to the bed that house the flowers Hana grew that weren't food or medicine. she grew those separate. He held the vase for her while she cut them. "This is very sweet of you, I'm sure she'll love them." Hana's hands flitted unsurely, like she thought Haru might not. That was silly, Haru adored Hana. "Haru loves everything you do."

'Its the only way I can think of to not be such a burden.'

"I'm sure she doesn't see it that way." Hana sighed. Then her hands flitted into a different series of words that made a bashful blush turn her cheeks pink. It was adorable. "A favor? Depends." Her request was so simple it confused him. "Swimming? Why don't you ask Haru?" Her reply made him nod slowly. Haru had been low energy since the accident, at least compared with before. According to Hana she was just now gaining strength. Hana didn't want to waste time Haru needed for training. HIsui thought she was a little too considerate sometimes, he himself would have been more selfish, if he were in Hana's place. "I suppose she has been rather busy lately." He nodded. "Okay, I'll take you."

Akira popped seemingly out of nowhere and grabbed Hana's shoulders. The smaller girls shrieked in surprise before realizing it was Hana. was that… genjutsu? "I want to come too!" Akira announced. "I love swimming!"

"All right."

He spent the afternoon holding Hana's hand as she splashed in the waves, and making sure she didn't go under. She couldn't find her way back above the surface alone if she did. Somehow she built a sandcastle without seeing it, and buried akira to her neck in sand. She forgot about this, and Hisui had to dig her out before the tide came back in.

He ended up pulling both of them home in the wagon they'd brought for their supplies, as they dozed, nodding in and out of wakefulness, exhausted from the day. Sasuke took Akira, and Hana was carried to her bed by Haru. "Honestly," Haru smiled softly, brushing Hana's hair back. "You're too nice." Sasuke gave Hisui a look that said he agreed. "Thank you though. She's wanted to go for while."

(**)

Naruto ran a hand through his messy blond hair. He hadn't had a chance to comb it in some time. He was in dire need of a shower, ramen, and his bed. Not in any particularly order but, still. He had scoured the records, but he hadn't found anything that could even be disguised as heartening. "I don't want to accelerate graduation any further- but we risk leaving ourselves completely undefended if we don't take some kind of action."

Sasuke- or Hawk, technically, since he was wearing his anbu mask and travel armor- was unclipping his weapons and slinging them over a chair before falling into it, and putting his feet up on the Hokage's desk. he better not get dirt on any official documents, the disrespectful bastard. "History will repeat itself." He pulled the mask back, and settled it on the top of his head, like a rather silly hat. Naruto wished he was awake enough to make a joke of it. There was a deep red score whipped around the circumference of his neck. Okay, so it had been bad.

He didn't comment on his state, because he knew Sasuke would ignore or hit him. He always wandered into the hospital at some point, so it really wasn't worth the conflict. "If I reduce the age limit, or don't?" he asked, searching through the files for the possible prodigy. The Kakashi-sensei's and Fourth Hokage's that could dig the next generation out the mess the previous ones had made. It wasn't looking too bright.

An interlude of silence reigned, in which Naruto scribbled down possible plans for when he was less delirious, and Sasuke presumably did something similar all within the confines of his mind. Suddenly, Sasuke swiped a notepad from naruto's desk and jotted down about dozen names. The letters were neat and functional. "Let these children attempt the exams early." He gestured to the first six- "Genin" then the second- "Chunin." He'd ranked them by number, but didn't feel the need to explain that, and luckily Naruto could figure it out by looking at it.

Naruto nodded, mulling over the list in his mind. Sasuke was right about the Zokishisen kid. Her learning speed was uncanny. "You've been observing them I assume." Sasuke nodded, his expression not even shifting. "That's not even part of your job-" He folded his arms. Looks like they might have to fight after all. Sasuke was doing the work of four shinobi. "Do you sleep anymore?"

Sasuke shook his head, either silently refusing to have the discussion, or admitting he didn't sleep. There was no way to know. It could also have been both. Sasuke's chair was the loudest thing in the room, scraping against the floor. He slipped out of the window, and blurred as he used chakra to leave the area faster. Coward.

Naruto growled, annoyed with his right hand. "Oi! Sasuke!"

(**)

"Alright everyone!" Udon-sensei clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention. They had been sitting outside in the grass, and focusing on their inner power. It was in preparation for Chakra control exercises. "That's enough meditation, so now lets try and focus chakra to our feet!" Haru got up and separated from the group, breathing a heavy sigh. How long before her chakra was back enough for her to train? It felt like forever. Apparently Udon-sense had the same feelings, because he came over and asked her: "How long before you get those goggles off, Haru?"

She turned to face him, and replied: "Soon, sir." It would have to be soon, anyway, if she wanted to pass. According to Hiari, she might even have a few days time before the exams to refresh her memory on everything her father had taught her way before she'd joined the academy. She couldn't tell Udon-sensei though, since her treatment was an important secret.

He nodded, but still looked worried. "It's been a year since you've been able to use chakra." Haru found the entire conversation painfully unnecessary. Why was he still talking? His point had been made a while ago. "You're missing a lot of practical work." That much was also obvious.

She nodded, keeping her face respectful and matching his worry with her own. "I understand."

He sighed. "All right. Just keep up your meditation." He glanced over as one of the other students blew up the ground at his feet by letting all his chakra out at once. "Your scores in taijutsu, stealth, tracking, and weaponry are amazing- If we just make it past the issue with the chakra..." Then he said something actually surprising and interesting. "I actually want to register you to become a genin this year."

Haru's eyes widened. "Isn't that a bit early?"

Udon-sensei shook his head. "With your chakra restored, I'm sure you'd pass." He shrugged. "If its not, there's no shame in waiting. Most students take four years. You've mastered everything but chakra in two." Haru didn't know she'd been working so fast. She'd been trying to go at the pace of Akira and Hiari, because she wanted to graduate with them, rather than before or after.

Haru smiled, and promised: "I'll do my best sir." Then, she added: "I've been improving quickly, the nurses say." She saw him relax from relief, and knew she had said the right thing. She didn't want him to worry so much when she knew she'd most likely be fine.

He smiled carefully. "That's good." He ruffled her hair, and she tolerated it. "Make sure you can use chakra in three months, and you'll be a genin no-sweat." he bumped fists with her, since that was how he encouraged students. It did make Haru smile and feel a little more confident. "I believe in you." He shrugged at her, not knowing what to assign her. "For now, practice whatever you feel needs fine-tuning."

Haru nodded. "Yes sir," she replied, and watched him run to help that student who kept demolishing the ground under his feet. Haru could go home now, if she wanted. Udon-sensei didn't mind if she preferred to practice at home, or with Hisui. He trusted her not to slack off. So far, she hadn't. She could barely imagine it.

Hisui was passing by the academy. She had planned to seek him out, but by coincidence, eh was already there. "Why are you over here alone?" he asked, squeezing her hand as a greeting. His hair wasn't tied, so he hadn't been training.

She shrugged. "Why are you over here alone?" she countered, sticking out her tongue.

Hisui smirked, acting like he was about to hit the bottom of her jaw. Haru jerked back. He'd made her bite her tongue that way once. So rude! "My team had a day off. It's not as though we're stuck together with senbon or anything."

Haru supposed they weren't. She'd actually only seen his teammates in passing, never met them. But they were probably strong like Hisui. She would have wanted to train with them, if she were in their team. Even of days off. "I have to train by myself because everyone else is doing chakra-exercises," she pouted.

Hisui grimaced, realizing he'd brought up a subject that made Haru sad. She felt bad about making him feel guilty, but there was no way she could look cheerful while thinking about her chakra, how little of it there was, and how she'd lost. Hisui smiled suddenly, and tugged on her hand. "Well I doubt he'd notice if you snuck out with me to get ice-mochi? it's pretty hot."

Haru bit her lip. Was that technically… skipping training? She really shouldn't do that. "I-" Hisiu tilted his head, looking slightly confused. The loss of his smile made Haru feel her stomach drop. Haru shook her head. She would go with Hisui. Screw it. "He probably wouldn't," she replied tentatively. Hisui's smile came back. That was much better.

Hisui had been right. It was hot. The sun beat down on them. Haru broke out into a light sweat before unzipping her sweater and letting it hang around her waist. Her hair was much longer than she was used to it being. It grew fast, and before she'd trim it short every month. Now that she was allowed to grow it out, she spent a lot of time wondering what to do with it- and lifting it up to cool her neck.

The third time she wiped her hair away from her nape, Hisui had stopped her. She paused. "Wait, let me?" he asked. Haru nodded, letting her hands fall back to her sides. Her head was tilted in curiosity, but he made a motion that told her to turn back around. He stood behind her, and she waited stiffly to see what would happen. She didn't like a rival standing behind her, but she trusted Hisui.

When his fingers touched her hair, she twitched. It wasn't what she had expected at all, which was an efficient tug into a topknot or high ponytail. Instead he drew her hair back gently, separating black strands and pulling them up and away from her neck. She felt the cool air on her skin and shivered. The tugging didn't stop right then- instead, it continued, and Haru sighed, feeling a little lazy and indulgent. More than usual anyway. First she was skipping training, now she was letting Hisui play with her hair. She felt him insert two pins, and reached back to feel the bun he had made, and the ornaments holding it in place. She traced the shape of metal blossoms with careful fingertips. They jingled softly if she played with them. She gasped, and spun "Hisui!" She hugged him, burying her face in his stomach. She felt his hands come around her shoulders and squeeze her back. She inhaled his scent, and relaxed into his hold. Since she was being spoiled today, she might as well keep going.

When the finally separated, their hands stayed linked. "They're steel." Hisui gently touched the hair ornaments, adjusting them carefully. "You can use them to fight, in emergencies." He had got her weapons disguised as jewelry. He had thought of her- even spent money. She didn't- she didn't know how to repay him. Haru was losing track of the steps she took. All her sensation was in her hand, clasped in his. He touched her cheek and she blushed, looking away. She didn't know what to do with this!

They reached the shop with the front that opened onto the street. behind a glass, balls of ice mochi were stacked, according to flavor and size. The shopkeeper smiled at them both. They been here a few times before, though not as often as they'd been to the Yamanaka's garden shop. "What'll it be?"

Hisui ordered first. "Ice chocolate and mint," he requested. The shopkeeper nodded, spooning the mochi requested into a cup, then placing it in a specially made stand.

Haru added her order. "Iced strawberry and lemon, please." She had to stand on her toes at times to see over the the railings. She wasn't short for an eight year old, but Hisui was pretty much thirteen. It was only a handful of days from his birthday, actually. She'd have to get him a present. She squeezed his hand, and without looking he squeezed back.

The man smiled, and added the second cup to the stand. "That'll be 50 ryo," he informed them cheerily. He gave them clear plastic spoons in neon colors, and small white napkins.

Hisui paid him with the proper coins, so there wasn't any change. They picked up their cups and began to wander away. Now that they had their mochi, they no longer had an exact destination. that was fine with Haru. She usually felt antsy without a goal, but today it was okay. It was strangely okay. She caught Hisui's white eyes and smiled. He smiled back, his fingers adjusting carefully, pulling her closer. A jolt pierced her chest.

She remembered her mochi, and used it as an excuse to not make eye contact. Haru's expression was making her feel nervous and fluttery. His eyes got this intense sometimes, but only when they were sparring. When they were sparring his face never looked this nervous... Or pleased. Not even when he won. They walked for a while, in silence. Haru wondered how long she'd be allowed to get away with it before- "Let me try yours." Haru looked up, not meaning to look startled but failing. They were in a park now. She'd lost track.

Haru offered him a spoonful of soft rice-dough and ice cream. She thought he'd take the spoon from her entirely, but instead he clasped her wrist and ate the desert from her hand. His thumb stroked her wrist gently. "Hisui," she murmured. Her voice was too soft, and high. Had he even heard her? There was a streak of ice cream by his mouth, and Haru reached out to wipe it off. Dazed, she licked her sticky thumb and tasted strawberry.

Haru sat down in some lush grass, and Hisui followed, pulled along by their still clasped hands. Their hands were still clasped because Haru couldn't seem to let go. She studied his hand in hers. Pale. Larger than hers. Calloused. Warm. "I passed my Chunin exams," he told her suddenly.

Haru shook her head in denial. "I didn't even hear about those-"

"They were held in secret. It's dangerous." Haru must have looked confused, because he clarified. "An entire age group of shinobi in one place." It was still confusing to her. Hisui must know things she didn't. Why wouldn't it be safe to do the chunin exams the way they'd always been done?

Still. The chunin exams themselves were dangerous. "Did anyone we know-" She broke off when Hisui's expression warped into something she'd never seen or felt before. Haru shivered. Her future was the same as his. People she cared about- they could die. They could die as early as a few years from that day.

Hisui nodded, solemnly. "Yeah. A few." He squeezed her hand. To comfort himself, and regain her attention. She snapped back into the present and was met with an ominously serious phrase. "I need to tell you something."

Haru didn't want to ask anymore. She didn't want to know. But- she owed it to Hisui to listen, and to herself to know the truth, and not lie to herself. "What is it?" She finally asked, suppressing the nervous wavering her voice was trying to do.

Hisui took a deep breath. "I'm leaving to Sound." Haru jerked. "It's a 'good-will' mission," he added, sounding apprehensive, but not too worried. Haru didn't care if he felt like he could handle the mission. She didn't want him to leave. "Based on what I've heard its more like mercenary work."

She shook her head slowly, trying to pull away. He held onto her. She never imagined she'd ask him to turn down a mission, but here she was. The thought of him leaving to Sound- it was unbearable. "Hisui, no." Her brows creased, and she was suddenly annoyed. "Why are they even sending Chunin?" This was definitely a Jonin mission- for sure.

Hisui frowned, he stroked her hair and it calmed her down. She didn't want to be calmed down, so she dodged his hand. "I've already said too much about the mission." She glared at him venomously. She didn't need words. "I'm sorry." Hisiu pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. "I'm sorry." It rang with finality, and Haru's heart panged painfully. "They send one team every two years." Two years. Two years before she'd see Hisui again. Before she'd even have the chance to find out if he was still alive. "I'll come back by the time you make chunin."

Haru began "Hisui-"

He interrupted her in a soft, desperate voice. "Tell me- can I be selfish?" He asked. He still held her palm by his lips. They were soft, unlike his hands where they clasped around her wrist.

"I don't understand?" She pulled her finger along a small nick in his cheek she'd just noticed. From the exams. He winced, but didn't draw back. For a moment she considered digging her finger into the wound and hurting him like he was hurting her. She didn't. She looked him in the eyes and broke the silence that had built as she observed the cut. "I really don't, Hisui."

He sighed. "Would you forgive me if I were truly selfish this moment?" Her hand cupped his cheek, cut and all.

Haru nodded. "Yes." She hoped he would be selfish and decide to stay, instead of going the mission.

"Before-" Hisui's voice seemed to catch. "Before I heard about this mission, I was going to ask you stay by my side." Hisui flinched as Haru's fingers spasmed against his face.

She took a shaky breath. Her stomach was flip flopping like a fish out of water. "You mean-?"

"Yes." Hisui. "I was going to give you the pins much later." Haru's breath stopped in her lungs. That would have been the first step of a proposal. "But I won't be here- someone could ask you while I'm gone." He eyes flicked away, embarrassed. "So at least- now... you know." Haru touched her hairpins gently, understanding their significance.

"You can't-" she leaned forward and touched their foreheads together. Hisui kneeled to let her, folding his tall form down. "You can't do that," she begged softly. "Stay here- please."

Hisui shook his head, and Haru coughed strangely, suppressing a sob. "I'm sorry." Hisui made to touch her lip with his thumb and she realized that's what Hisui did to the things he liked about her. She nosed his finger aside and kissed him. Lightly. She held her breath nervously until- until his arms came around her and pulled her close. She felt felt his warmth along her entire body, and felt him kiss her back- and only then could she breath again. "I won't be gone forever." He promised it. But one could never know these things could they? Anything could go wrong or change.

She bit her lip and pulled away. Hisui's fingers lingered over her arms like he didn't want to let go. She didn't either- but she had to respect whatever reason it was he decided he had to go to sound. Even if he couldn't tell her what it was. "We should say goodbye now. Not see each other before tomorrow. It's too painful."

"All right." He dropped one more kiss on the palm of her hand. She found she liked that. She wished that it didn't have to hurt so much, though.

(**)

Her fist went clear through the flower-pot. Sure her hand had cuts all over, but at least she'd defeated a piece of pottery and some earth. 'Haru stop that right now!' Pale hands snatched up the next pot from her hands. She watched as Hana felt carefully along the ground until she found the dejected little lettuce sprouts she'd been trying to grow, and gather them up onto a workbench near by. She then dusted off her hands, and pushed Haru's shoulder. It didn't hurt. Hana wasn't very strong. But Haru could tell she'd pissed her off.

She didn't care. If she could be miserable, so could others. "I can't!" She stamped her foot. "Hana I'm so angry!" She kicked at the dirt. It wasn't making her feel any better. Upset and useless and full of rage. Rage that she'd had to hide from Hisui, from Sasuke, even from her father. She wouldn't hide from Hana.

Hana grabbed her arm with one hand, and spoke with the other. "What's wrong?" She gasped when she felt the bleeding cuts on Haru's hand. Haru pulled her hand away, but Hana snatched hold of her wrist and yanked her forward hard enough that she stumbled. Okay- Hana was pretty strong.

Haru found herself being dragged into the house and forced to stand with her fingers under the faucet. Hana retrieved bandages from the cupboard and a green paste from a jar that hurt like crazy when Hana rubbed it into the city. "Ouch Hana that stings- ouch!"

Hana's hands were annoyed when she signed. "it's your fault." Haru couldn't argue with that. "Hold still." That she couldn't do. She squirmed as Hana bandaged her fingers, but tried to keep her arm still, despite how agitated she was.

Haru put her head on the wooden table and sighed dejectedly. Hana was putting safety pins in her bandages so they didn't open back up. "Hisui's leaving, Hana." She murmured. She felt Hana's hands still. "He's leaving the village."

Hana stroked her hair. "I'm sorry," she signed. "I won't leave you." Haru sobbed rubbed her eyes to make sure she didn't cry, and let Hana envelope her in a hug. It was warm and sweet. Less charged than any touch with hisui had ever been. Hana demanded nothing. Hana didn't leave. Hana didn't get hurt anymore or get upset or have to make hard decisions. She wanted to be like Hana, happily planting, cooking, and caring.

She sniffed. "But he did leave." She pouted. "And he said he loved me." She sounded like she was whining. she was. There was no point in talking about something she couldn't change. There was nothing Hana could do either.

Hana snapped her fingers to get Haru to pay attention to her again. Haru sat up guiltily from her slump. "Yes. He does. He left to protect you." Her movements were chastising somehow. Then, they slowed down, and became hesitant. Almost worried. "Wouldn't you leave to protect me?"

Haru gasped softly. "Is that what it is?" She shivered, suddenly feeling a bad premonition creep over her. "Protect me from what?"

Hana shrugged. "Something in the earth." Haru raised her eyebrow at this riddle sounding phrase, But Hana had gone outside and gotten back to gardening, rectifying the mess Haru had made of her lettuce.

(**)

The doctor actually clapped when she saw the results on the screen. Normally a Hyuuga would not be allowed to express so much emotion around indirect family, but it was easy to forgive her when Haru herself was bursting at the seams and wanted to jump out and down. Instead she grinned like she never had before- till her cheeks hurt. "Your chakra is stable!"

Her father nodded at her, smiling quietly in his seat. He might as well have been dancing, if it were anyone else. "I can take the goggles off?" She asked, impatiently.

The doctor smiled. She undid the clasps Haru had never been able to find and pulled them off. Haru could see the proper colors of the world again and it was so weird! "Yes of course!" She bowed formally to Haru, trying to rein herself in, and Haru bowed back- but couldn't resist hugging her the moment after.

She hugged her father too. She's gotten the doctor's approval just in time- her exams were that afternoon. "Thanks, ma'am." She ran to her father and hesitated, before hugging him too. "Thanks papa."

He pinched her cheek, which was very playful for papa, and added: "Good luck on your exam." Then, more sternly: "Don't overtax your system." He gave her an emergency chakra seal. Things should not get out of hand, but Haru understood his desire to be well prepared- she shared it. "It is probably best if you only use Byakugan in emergencies for now."

She nodded. Then she felt worry. Haru had never been any less than totally prepared for a test- except this time she couldn't be. She hadn't had time to practice chakra control in two years! "Do you think I'll pass, papa." She wrung her fingers together behind her back, because papa said that only weak people made nervous gestures.

Her father nodded solemnly."Of course." He stated their mantra. Whenever training had been hard, the clan had been cruel, or Haru had just been sad and felt no desire to continue, their answer had always been: "Failure is not an option." Haru smiled, feeling it comfort her, as it always did. It gave her a sense of purpose. "Ah- what is this?" Her father touched her hairpins, and the steel links jingled softly.

Haru blushed and took a step back. "I'm gonna run on the roof tops!" She hastened away from him, all the while trying not to look like she was running away. "Don't wait for me!" She hurried across to room and launched herself out the open window before she could see her father's amused, but considering expression.

(**)

Haru clasped Hiari's arm when she saw him at the endurance section of the genin exam. The group had thinned out a lot, from those who had been there at the beginning. Most of them had been older than them, but she, Hiari, and Akira had been one of the few that made it this far. Haru was a bit surprised about Akira, if she was honest. She supposed training with Sasuke-san every evening had its perks. "Thanks so much"

Hiari shrugged. "Eh- it wasn't much effort for me." He wasn't paying much attention, Haru knew. He'd seen a praying mantis just before, and now he'd fixate on it until he'd found it again and captured it for his collection.

She smiled a little. "I guess not."

Akira was peppy and her eyes kept flashing with light. She didn't seem to notice, but Haru did. Hana's eyes did the same thing sometimes, in the dark. "You guys ready?"

Hiari sighed. "You clearly are," he replied sarcastically.

Akira laughed nervously, and Haru realized the pep was self defense from worry. "You'll do great Akira-chan," Haru told her cheerily. She saw the other relax and nodded. Yes, that was better.

"Yeah," Hiari added. "All thats left is chakra control and endurance. All the other parts were easy."

Akira shrugged. "Not everyone passed."

Haru shook her head. "But we did." And she wasn't about to stop here, the sooner she made Chunin, the sooner Hisui had to come home. He'd promised. "So we can pass this one too!"

A green man burst into the clearing, making a dramatic thumbs up sign at all the students. one of them flinched. others groaned. "Alright kids-" He shouted enthusiastically. Too much so for the time of day, and how hot it was outside. "You're in the springtime of your youth!" He was vigorously doing sit ups as he announced all this. Haru closed her eyes because otherwise she'd burst out laughing. It would be unbecoming. "All you have is power!" He stood suddenly, jumping up from his back. "But do you have the power to run five miles… Across the lake?" 

Hiari sighed. "Kami have mercy."

(**)

Haru stretched pleasantly as she walked, feeling the happiness she always felt when she'd had a good workout. Her arms and legs burned, and felt wobbly when she moved. Haru was a genin, she'd passed. Highest marks in the class. She held her headband in her hand- she had yet to put it on. She would only wear it when she'd shown in to Papa and Hana and-

Her feet had brought her to the training ground she almost always visited after classes. She had forgotten not to. Forgotten how much it would hurt to. Her eyes prickled with tears, but she inhaled deeply and pressed the emotion back down. "I'm here," she announced, her voice strained, cracking. There was no one there to hear her. She saw him reply in her mind though. He would just barely smile, and hurl a kunai just shy of her- to see if she could catch it. There was no kunai to catch that day. The training ground was forgotten and empty.

Not knowing what to do, she walked up to the training dummy that stood isolated in the field, looking like a scarecrow with no crops to guard. There was one kunai left after all, buried in its chest. Haru pulled it out, recognizing with a pang in her chest that it was one of Hisui's. The ribbon around the handle was unraveled a bit, from when he would twirl his kunai pass the time. Her hands flew to her chest, and she curled into a ball. It was the wrong move, the Kunai nicked her hand, and a fine red line began to well up with blood across the flat of her palm.

Haru sobbed, and failed to hold back tears. The sudden sting of an honestly minor physical pain started a torrent Haru would normally have been able to hold back. She flung the kunai way from her and collapsed on the ground. Stupid Hisui. Stupid chunin exams. Stupid mission. She balled her cut hand into her jacket sleeve. She should go home to Hana and have it fixed. the younger girl would know what to do about her hand, but not about this pain in her heart. She refused to wipe her tears- to acknowledge they were there was to accept how weak she was. People went on missions. That was part of life as a Shinobi. What was she crying about?

It was so silly that she doubled over and let out a heartbroken wail, giving in and burying her face in her unbloodied sleeve. She cried so little she didn't even know how, and now she couldn't breathe because inhaling felt like trying to suck the air out of a glass jar. The atmosphere was too heavy, pressing down on her chest and if this went on much longer she might just-

She might just die. Haru must have lain there for minutes, completely still, breathless. Eventually her tears slowed down and she could take gulp of cool evening. It still hurt. Her hand hurt too and her muscles were sore. Haru's eyes drifted shut. She'd meant to stop crying completely, compose herself, and get up.

Instead, she fell asleep. It was so easy to drift off and just let the soft uneven gusts of the breeze soothe her into a doze, taking away the hotness around her eyes, and drying the blood on her hand. Eventually she was awoken by steps. They were soft, but loud enough in the silence of the night. She sat up quickly, the once discarded kunai already in her hand, and angled defensively. "You can't sleep here. It's not safe."

She put her kunai down when she realized it was only Sasuke-san. "Yes," she said, looking around. She blinked, trying to focus. The past hours were a strange blur. She'd been crying she knew that, but she could normally understand her feelings. Now all she got was an angry, sad, desperate whirlwind that threatened to make her start crying all over again. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." She did- but telling Sasuke-san that was out of the question.

Sasuke-san raised his eyebrow. Haru flushed guiltily, but didn't look away. He knew anyway, but if she looked guilty it would just be worse. The man sighed. His eyes kept flitting behind her back like there might be something in the trees. Haru was not surprised, he trusted very little. Sasuke-san took firm hold of her uninjured hand and yanked her to her feet. "If he doesn't come back—he was too weak for you." There was little else for Haru to do but follow him home. Sasuke's nose wrinkled as if he could smell something bad, and he started pulling her faster in the direction of the Uchiha-complex. There was little else for Haru to do but follow him home.


End file.
